Animal Cruelty

Unfortunately, animal cruelty is quite prevalent these days. In the last month, there have been dog fighting cases, dog burning cases, dog dragging cases and just this week cruelty to horses in Lewisburg, Tennessee. It is abhorrent to me that people could treat animals this way. It has been proven that there is a link between animal cruelty and violent crimes. We would all do well to prevent animal cruelty.

I've copied this post from my peronal blog, Richardson Zoo. Even though it addresses only the Michael Vick case, it pretty much sums up the way I feel about all animal cruelty:

It's taken me a while to digest all of the information about the Micheal Vick / dog fighting case. The video footage is just horrible, and the parts that I've been able to watch have broken my heart. Dog fighting is a heartless, cruel, torturous sport. It's horrible to think that civilized people could treat an animal that way. I can't believe that he's pled not guilty to the charges. I mean, he's right there ON THE TAPES!!! It's situations like this that prove to me that we need much stricter animal cruelty laws. Not only should Vick be punsihed for running a dog fighting ring, but the spectators of events like these should be charged with felonies too. I'm glad that all of the big animal advocate organizations: American Humane Association, Humane Society of the United States, and the ASPCA are all bringing charges and contributing to his prosecution. It also makes me happy that there are federal, not just state charges against him. I believe that he should spend A LOT of time in prison. It scares me to think about the link between animal cruelty and violent crime. It's there. It's been proven. I feel like they should lock him up and throw away the key. He should be done the exact same way he's done those animals. No mercy should be shown to him.

If you'd like to encourage your legislators to stop dog fighting, click HERE.

To see what the animal cruelty laws are here in Tennessee click HERE.