When Oogy was 10 weeks old, he should have spent his days as any puppy should: running around, exploring this big new world with the knowledge that at the end of the day he would return to loving arms. A dogo-breed puppy, Oogy was only 10 weeks old when owners of a dog-fighting ring used him as bait for a pit bull. Without the efforts of animal emergency staff, Oogy would have died that day.
Our societal love for pets is significant. In 2012, over 36 percent of American households had pet dogs and over 30 percent had pet cats. Even on a college campus, it seems like you can’t turn a corner without running into an adorable dog. There’s nothing better than throwing a tennis ball for your best buddy or dangling a toy for your kitten on a rainy day. But when you look into those innocent eyes, how often do you honestly think about the fact that so many others of your best friend’s species face cruelty every day?
It’s hard to imagine ever being anything less than loving towards our pets: They’re there for us when we sob over a failed exam or need someone to run with during finals week. Unfortunately, many people seem to lack the instinct to love animals and instead treat them with nothing but contempt and violence. With the seemingly insurmountable presence of animal testing for products and animal mills that profit off of unsafe breeding and despicable living conditions, getting rid of animal cruelty is a heavy task.
Dogs get the worst of it. Whether it’s being born in an overpopulated puppy mill, being forced into fighting or domestic abuse, it’s estimated that 60 percent of reported animal abuse cases every year involve dogs. And while some abused dogs are rescued, far too many end up dying because they cannot recover from the damage of abuse.
Across the country, puppy mills stock pet stores with puppies that look cute, but have faced unthinkable neglect and abuse. In fact, it’s estimated that even just in the state of Missouri, there are over 1,500 unlicensed puppy mills. This means they aren’t held to any sort of standard: They work for profit. One can only imagine what awful conditions the dogs there live under. But people who purchase puppies from popular pet stores probably don’t even think about where their new best friend came from.
With these circumstances, you’d think the public would be well aware of the issue and the government would be doing something about it. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There are laws in existence protecting against animal abuse, but the reality is that it is very difficult to identify every instance of abuse. Therefore, it’s likely the known statistics regarding animal abuse do not represent even a small majority of the abuse that actually occurs.
For a society that likes to commercialize families that include pets such as cats and dogs, we have an obligation to fight against animal cruelty in any way that we can. Instead of using them for our entertainment, we need to get a dialogue started about the horrors that far too many animals face every day.
Next time you run into a dog or cat on campus and can’t help but swoon over their undeniable cuteness, think about where they may have come from. The sooner we can get people talking about this issue, the more likely it is that we will be able to create positive change for our furry friends.