The killing of innocent animals is certainly a vicious act but not an uncommon one. According to an article on animal slaughtering, "Killing frequencies are indeed overwhelming, leading to the slaughter of ten billion animals per year in the U.S. alone, with hundreds to thousands of kills per hour in individual plants" (Heidemann et al., 2020). Some may say that the slaughtering of animals is necessary because, well, we need to eat but there are many alternatives available today and so, there is no reason for us to be killing that insane amount of animals each year! Also, there are instances when individuals kill animals without reason. For instance, in the article "Animal serial killing: The first criminal conviction for animal cruelty in Brazil", the details behind a horrific act of violence made against several animals in Sao Paulo, Brazil were made known to the public. According to the article, the offender was a woman that claimed to be an animal rescuer and was often seen taking in several stray cats and dogs over the years. When a private detective began investigating her, they realized that all the animals that were brought into her home were never seen again. This realization prompted the detective to look through the women's property and it was during this search that the detective, unfortunately, found 37 dead animals in trash bags. In the report, it was stated that "all the animals were killed in the same way and by the same method, which cannot be natural—the animals were intentionally killed. They were submitted to single or multiple cardiac punctures with the injection of ketamine" (Salvagni et al., 2016). It was not revealed the motive behind this gruesome act of violence but no matter the reason the offender did not go unpunished and there were serious legal ramifications for what she did. It was reported that she was "sentenced to 12 years, 6 months and 14 days of prison" (Salvagni et al., 2016). Although one would hope that this sort of vicious act would never happen again, it is likely that it may but I believe we have taken a step in the right direction by increasing the punishment for these types of crimes.
Furthermore, animal cruelty is a social issue that I have always been deeply concerned about. It was actually one of the reasons I decided to convert to vegetarianism at the age of 13. I had seen a video that demonstrated the cruel ways some people treat farm animals and I remember feeling so heartbroken after that I vowed to never eat an animal again. It has been 7 years now and I do not ever see myself consuming animals ever again. Anyway, something that I always found difficult to comprehend was why many of us humans think the lives of animals are incomparable to ours and are not in any way valuable. Animals could literally turn out to be our best friends. And I do not just mean cats and dogs because I think ALL animals, no matter how funny-looking, are worth caring for. So, it is because I believe that the lives of animals are just as important as ours that I chose to discuss this social issue.
References:
https://doi-org.mimas.calstatela.edu/10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.08.033
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01824
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