In the United States alone animals are abused every day, from the farms that supply our grocery stores, to the people who run massive animal breeding operations, to the neighbors in our local communities. As individuals we sometimes forget where meat comes from when we are buying it from the local Safeway. Moreover, people in local communities may be ignorant to a neighbor that mistreats their dogs. Animals need rights, protection, and fair treatment; not only because animals do not have the ability to protect themselves, but also because so many people are not aware of what happens to animals in farms, or labs. Animals are like children in this regard; if our federal government did not protect children who endure abuse the same way animals suffer from abuse those children would be better off dead. There are millions of animals that are used, abused, killed and neglected because of testing, American entertainment, luxury, and ultimately because the owner of abused animals, “just can.”
According to Stephanie Ernst, the author of an article called, “Animal Use and Abuse Statistics: The Shocking Numbers,” animals who are used for testing do not make it out alive—bottom line. “More than 25 million vertebrate animals are used in the U.S each year—including monkeys, chimpanzees, beagles, and other dogs, cats, rabbits, mice, birds, farm animals…etc. After the experiments conclude, essentially all of the animals who have survived the research are killed.”(Ernst, 2008) Furthermore Ernst continues with the fact that when animals are used for testing, specifically by the Food and Drug Administration, the drugs tested will ultimately be taken off the shelves or reworked because of serious illnesses and/or death to humans. (Ernst, 2008) This bares the question of why, or what is the point of testing on animals if the test does not actually prove to cure or aid humans. Thus on a more serious note, if the drugs cause serious illness or death to humans there is no telling what the actual effects were on the animals after taking the medication; because the animals are killed. Between the use of animals to test drugs and the fact that our animal farms have no laws to abide by in regards to humane animal treatment, the need for regulation is heavier than ever..
Recently, a video was released by an animal rights group named, Mercy for Animals; this video is actually an undercover video, shot at a pig farm. More importantly, Smithfield Farms is the fourth largest pork provider within our fifty states, providing pork to Safeway, Kroger and Costco. The video shot depicts the pigs suffering from abuse ranging from piglets being thrown and tossed around as if they were basketballs, their tails being docked off with only a pair of pliers, and even worse, “pigs that have suffered severe abscesses as a result of botched and infected neutering and birthing.” (Satran, 2011). This video can tell me one of two possible reasons for this: the person shooting the video has put clips together of certain situations that may have not been abusive, however, has made it look like abuse; or Smithfield Farms has a lot of explaining to do along with an investigation within their farm, and employees.
I would consider the first choice a possibility because of an article posted shortly after the release of the video on the Huffington post. This article on the Huffington post pertains to a bill that is going through the Iowa State Legislature; it would put a ban on the undercover filming of animal and livestock farms. The supporters and farmers of this bill are fighting for their rights because they claim that people seek employment with them under false pretenses in order to gain access to film their farms. Advocates of banning undercover filming of livestock and animal farms believe that the people shooting the videos are those who encourage the vegan and/or vegetarian lifestyle. Groups like, Mercy for Animals are making the farmers out to be monsters because they do not believe in pig farms. (Glover, 2011) Although this theory may be plausible, I find it quite difficult to agree with, in my eyes there is a need for a call to action for the pigs at Smithfield Farms.
Action needs to be taken in regards to the issue of animal abuse; laws of protection and regulations in major animal farms must be put into place, not just on a state-by-state basis. The Federal government has to step in at some point and make animal abuse and cruelty a federal issue, and if the federal government does not step in to make this a federal issue, the animals will continue to suffer. Because different states have different beliefs on how animals should be treated and our individual definitions of fair treatment is just that: individual, our U.S government needs to put the definition of fair treatment of animals into writing just as it does for humans.
Works Cited
Ernst, S. (2008, October 05). News: Animal Use and Abuse Statistics: The Shocking Numbers. Retrieved September 19, 2011, from Change.org: http://news.change.org/stories/animal-use-and-abuse-statistics-the-shocking-numbers
Glover, M. (2011, June 13). Animal Abuse Video Bill: Ban on Undercover Filming of Livestock Operations Stalls after Tough Opposition. Retrieved September 11, 2011, from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/13/animal-abuse-videos-bill-livestock_n_875931.html
Minnick, B. (2009, January 6). Fremont Man Arrested in 'Horrific' Animal Cruelty Case. Retrieved September 19, 2011, from WRAL NEWS: http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/4251302
Satran, J. (2011, June 29). Iowa Select Farms Pig Abuse: Animal Rights Group Releases Gruesome Undercover Footage. Retrieved September 19, 2011, from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/iowa-select-farms-pig-abuse-video_n_88643.html
