Circle of Cruelty

We all know (or at least should know) that animal abuse is wrong for any reason. But what are we doing to stop it? Are we any closer now than from a decade ago? Will there ever be an end?

A group of puppies being euthenized because their heartless owner dropped their pregnant mother in the backyard, drove off, and never came back. A kitten was dipped in oil and set on fire because its owner was bored. A deer drops dead in the forest with a bullet in its chest because a hunter wanted to try out their new gun. A herd of elephants mourn a slaughtered friend after poachers stole its tusks. Thousands of cows, chickens, and pigs are pushed onto concrete floors and into line to be skinned alive. A blinded rabbit huddles in an overcrowded, underfed group of other animals, waiting to die. A snarling dog crouches in defense as it's euthenized after a horrible past, forcing it to fear humans.

Some of us decide that these things don't matter; animals don't have feelings. They won't know it when we thrust our knives into their limp bodies; when we dip them in scalding oils, when we saw off their feet and tusks; when their organs are bleeding because of the vaccine we were working on; when we forget about them and move away; when we take aim and pull a trigger at their pounding hearts; when we do it while they're alive. They're just animals. They can't feel it.

This perspective is a horrible excuse for what society is doing to the beautiful creatures that we were given to protect. People think that since we believe ourselves the 'dominant species' anything 'below' us is unfeeling, ready to use at our disposal. This is wrong, and many people know that as well and are fighting for the lives of these otherwise helpless animals.

But will this really stop abuse, slaughter, skinning, and all the other cruelties we put animals through? Of course not. It will help, for sure, but not completely stop it. Because we can't stop hurting other species if we don't start with how we treat our own.

How many times in the news do you hear this word: Murder? If you listen to the news, you know the answer is "a lot". People are won over by the vulnerability and innocence of animals that they forget how virtually the same thing is happening to themselves: friends, family, neighbors, strangers they may never have known, found in the streets covered in wounds and blood inflicted by someone who had no right to take their life. Someone who had no respect for life, human, feline, canine, reptilian, or otherwise.

In various animal cruelty articles that I've read, there have been numerous comments about people wanting revenge on the abusers. How in the world does this make you any better than they are? I have no idea. If we can't respect even the most despicable of human life, there is no chance of those terrible people viewing the poor lives they take away seriously.

So, listen to Michael Jackson:

"I'm starting with the man in
The mirror
I'm asking him to change
His ways
And no message could have
Been any clearer
If you wanna make the world
A better place
Take a look at yourself and
Then make a change"

If you want others to change, you have to change yourself!