Animal Abuse In America

Approximately every 10 seconds, an animal is abused in some way, shape, or form in America. In 1966 President Johnson signed the Animal Welfare Act, which is the only federal law that protects and regulates the rights of animals in the United States to date (“Animal Welfare” 2017). All of the states have laws to protect animals, but the consequences and offences outlined in the laws differ in every state. This lack of laws and consequences causes the need for a discussion of the rights of animals in America. Animal Rights has been a historic and lengthy battle with many current issues that are being worked at by organizations all over the U.S. to get the country and government involved to help animals and cause a major impact to help the …show more content…
More federal laws are needed to protect animals because when people abuse animals and get away with little jail time or fines, it shows other offenders that if they are convicted they won’t be as severely punished as they should be. In her article on the ALDF website, April Nockleby acknowledges the need for stronger dogfighting laws stating “Sadly, unlike the high-profile Michael Vick case, most cases of dogfighting go unnoticed by the media, and find dogfighters receiving weak sentences if convicted.” meaning that most cases of animal abuse, like dogfighting, go unnoticed by officials and usually don’t receive sentences as impactful as the one received by Michael Vick (Nockleby 2017). Cases like Michael Vick's dogfighting case, are the reasons that animal rights need to be recognized by the federal government as more serious situations that require consequences more severe than the existing ones. While most articles cover how animals rights are being ignored and the grim side of the topic, there are many organizations that work around the clock to grant animals better …show more content…
They often work with the general public and volunteers to inform people of the mistreatment of animals in multiple situations such as unfair treatment in movie productions or in zoos. The work PETA does moves the long battle for animals rights forward to victory for animals. PETA’s main point is that when we work together, we can help millions of animals. In demonstrating the effects that the lack of rights has on animals, it gives people a reason to work with organizations like PETA and the ASPCA to help work for animal rights. When people work with organizations to help animals, their actions result in an movement that affects animals