Cruelty to animals facts for kids
Cruelty to animals refers to treatment or standards of care that cause unwarranted or unnecessary suffering or harm to animals.
Sometimes if someone harms animals they get a fine and in more serious cases can go to jail.
Some ways people could abuse an animal would be locking it up, keeping it tied to a chain, giving it little or no food or water, kicking and hurting it, yelling and scaring it or leaving it outside in cold or hot weather for a long period of time.
Some people say that factory farming, fur farming or animal testing is also cruel to an animal's welfare.
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Fur industry
Animal welfare activists suggest a total ban on fur production due to the suffering inflicted on animals, especially minks. It has been suggested that fur production is immoral as fur clothes are luxury items. Minks are solitary and territorial animals; however, in fur farms, they are raised in cages and then killed for fur.
Animal fighting
Bullfighting is criticized by animal rights or animal welfare activists, referring to it as a cruel or barbaric blood sport. Several activist groups undertake anti-bullfighting actions in Spain and other countries. In Spain, opponents of bullfighting are referred to as anti-taurinos.
Dog fighting is a sport that turns dogs against one another in a ring or a pit for gambling or the entertainment of the spectators.
Warfare
Military animals are creatures that have been employed by humankind for use in warfare. They are a specific application of working animals. Examples include horses, dogs and dolphins. Only recently has the involvement of animals in war been questioned, and practices such as using animals for fighting, as living bombs or for military testing purposes (such as during the Bikini atomic experiments) may now be criticized for being cruel.
Hunting
Hunting is a recreational activity that causes death and injury to a significant number of animals. In poaching the animal is killed and valuable parts such as tusks or bones are collected.
Laws against animal cruelty
Many countries around the world have laws which forbid cruelty to some animals. These laws provide the minimal requirements for care and treatment of animals, but do not require optimal treatment or mandate kindness or love. They require that animals be provided shelter, food, water and medical treatment and that animals not be tortured, or killed in an inhumane manner.
Some traditional practices, such as the treatment of animals at a rodeo or at a circus, are sometimes given exemptions to the laws.
In a few jurisdictions, notably Massachusetts and New York, agents of humane societies and associations may be appointed as special officers to enforce statutes outlawing animal cruelty.
In the USA ear cropping, tail docking, the Geier Hitch, rodeo sports and other acts perceived as cruelty in many other countries are still allowed. Penalties for cruelty are minimal, if pursued.
In Australia, many states have enacted legislation outlawing cruelty to animals. Whilst the police deal with criminal matters, in many states officers of the RSPCA and other animal welfare charities are given authority to investigate and prosecute animal cruelty offences.
Most jurisdictions simply depend on law enforcement officers who may not be knowledgeable in the area or assign it a high priority.
In the United Kingdom, cruelty to animals is a criminal offence and one may be fined or jailed for it for up to five years.
In Mexico, animal cruelty laws are slowly being implemented.
Images for kids
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Captured sea turtle at Jamestown, Accra, Ghana
See also
In Spanish: Crueldad hacia los animales para niños
