dog fighting

Dog fighting is illegal in every single state in the United States, but is a sport that is still brutal in it’s extreme ways. The reason people get involved in this activity is pretty much the money and the status of strength and power. The price to play, $20,000 - $30,000. Not only an extreme amount of money is at stake, but the welfare of these dogs, is insanity.

Ancestral hierarchy is an important factor of dogfighting. If you have a dog, who has a father that is the best in competition, that pup will be known and expected to be the best.

The Pitbull, is the number 1 species of dog that is used to fight until quite literally, the death. In terms of dogfighting, pitbulls are bred for aggression. That’s where that terrible, controversial reputation of how “aggressive” this breed can be. Aggression is based off of terrible treatment and training since the dog was born. Dogfighting dogs spend most of their lives tied up outside in chains, kept in solitary- away from other dogs. Fortunately, according to the ASPCA, the people who create and bet on these intense fights, invest money and quality care into their dogs. It involves basic veterinary care and high quality nutrition.

Unfortunately, a variety of illicit drugs like anabolic steroids are very commonly used on these dogs to increase aggressiveness and muscle mass. Both animals can suffer from severe lacerations, broken bones, blood loss, and puncture wounds. Injuries caused in the middle of the fights are commonly left untreated. At the end of the fight, if the dog is considered to be an embarrassment to it’s ranking with the owner, the dog is often used as bait or discarded to die.

I personally am completely in favor of the federal legalities in dog fighting and its creation. These dogs are being forcefully set up to die for the sole purpose of money. The welfare of these dogs is absolutely terrible. These dogs need a loving home where they’re treated like family and not treated like a rag doll. 

A closer look at Dogfighting. ASPCA. (n.d.). Retrieved May 2, 2022, from https://www.aspca.org/investigations-rescue/dogfighting/closer-look-dogfighting

puppy mills

Going to the pet store was one of my favorite activities as a kid. I remember the feeling that most people get when they see puppies or kittens in their enclosures. The feeling intensified when the staff member would let you take them out to play with them in a separate room. Being near animals was so therapeutic to me. How could you not love the aesthetics of puppies and kittens? Well, this is the topic that has raised many concerns in the animal welfare community, Puppy Mills. 

According to Washington University’s Journal of Law and Policy, Puppy Mill is a word used to explain a corporate dog breeding facility that makes a huge profit by selling puppies on a daily basis by prioritizing profit over the animals' well-being (Burger, 2013). Typically, these types of breeding facilities are focused on breed specific animals, like popular dog breeds such as golden retrievers or Pomeranians. The puppies are usually extremely malnourished, cramped with no room to run around, and extremely ill. More species specific animals, equals more money.  

My perspective on puppies from pet stores changed almost immediately, once I understood what puppy mills were. People are sometimes being  brain washed due to the lack of education about these owners of the mills and pet stores. Unfortunately, money doesn’t mean anything to some people. 

There are some red flags to look for in puppy mills. Generally, you should just adopt from a local shelter. Adopting an animal from a local shelter benefits animals who really need to be adopted. They’re way less expensive and some shelters even offer cheap or free healthcare. These puppies and kittens will show just the same amount of love and appreciation, if not more, then buying from a puppy mill. They’ve gone through hell just to get put into a shelter either because of “no one wants that animal”, they could’ve gone through abuse, or they were simply homeless and walking around the streets barely surviving. You don’t necessarily know what these animals have gone through.

Some of the red flags include the breeder having puppies quickly (which isn’t good because of the overpopulation of the puppies), they make claims that the puppy has some kind of meaningless feature- for example, “my puppies have the best fur”, and the breeder won’t answer questions about the puppies living conditions or breeding practices (death2america-tumblr, 2020). 

Overall, just please do lots of research on the breeders, pet stores, or adoption centers to make sure that they give the animals proper welfare and treatment. Be more aware and your forever pet will be grateful with love and affection. 

Burger, K. A. (2013). Solving the Problem of Puppy Mills: Why the Animal Welfare Movement's Bark Is Stronger than Its Bite. Washington University Journal of Law & Policy, 43, 259-284.

https://death2america.tumblr.com/post/619015955263143936/i-made-a-post-a-while-back-spreading-awareness

https://stoptheshops.tumblr.com/post/651521522491604992/everyone-remembers-looking-in-the-windows-at-pet

cosmetic testing

Millions of animals have gone through extreme tests and research for testing of cosmetics. Products like eyeshadow, foundation, soaps, and other hygienic products are used on different types of animals. According to the companies, it is done to test the health and safety of these products. 

Rats, Rabbits, Dogs are the most common victims. Induced powders and liquid are poured into the eyes of these harmless creatures. Most of the animals are restrained in really tight conditions and given no anesthesia.The Food and  Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t require you to do animal testing on cosmetics. All European countries, Australia, India, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, and South Korea have full or partial bans on cosmetics animal testing. In the U.S., California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, and Virginia are among the eight states that have passed laws prohibiting cosmetics animal experimentation as of February 2022. Modern testing methods (such as human cell-based assays and powerful computing models) have gradually replaced outdated animal tests with non-animal alternatives that are often faster, less expensive, and more trustworthy.

Most, if not, all of my products specifically point out that they don’t test on animals. I personally bought them because of their good reviews on how the products were effective. Other people usually don’t point out that a certain product is or isn’t tested on animals. Fortunately, those products that I have that I’m positive don’t test on animals, just happen to not test on any animals without my prior education and research from that brand. 

The Humane Society of the United States is one of many companies that work to advocate the issues of animal testing. Through the Animal-Free Safety Assessment (AFSA) Collaboration, they collaborated with multinational companies like Unilever, L'Oréal, Procter & Gamble, and Lush to campaign for legislation that would ban the production and sale of animal-tested cosmetics in the United States and around the world. AFSA is also working on educational and training tools to assist businesses and government agencies in making the shift to non-animal approaches.

Cosmetics testing FAQ. The Humane Society of the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/cosmetics-testing-faq#required

animals in science

Every year, more than 100 million animals are used in research and testing around the world, including nearly four million in the United Kingdom. Animals used in scientific procedures can and do suffer from severe pain, desperation, and anxiety

For example, cosmetic testing on animals. According to the FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration, product testing is just one of the measures that a manufacturer may take to guarantee the safety of a cosmetic product. Fortunately, more and more brands are changing their creation of their products into cruelty free/vegan/free of animal testing. One cosmetic company that changed their ways of creating better products while testing the safety is Lush Cosmetics. 

Lush Cosmetics has the cosmetics industry's strictest non-animal testing policy. They only purchase ingredients from vendors who do not practice or pay for animal testing for any reason, and they review them annually to ensure they meet their policy's standards.

I have personally used Lush Cosmetics and have enjoyed their products. They have really nice, pretty, and relaxing bath bombs. They make their products fresh with a clear expiration date and ecofriendly recyclable packaging. Unfortunately, it is pretty pricey per quantity of the product, but for what they do around cruelty free testing of animals and for the environment, it’s worth the purchase. 

In terms of dissection for research and education, I think it’s beneficial for the students or people studying the anatomies of the animals, if they’re already dead and died of natural causes, like a frog that died due to a bacterial disease. If products are specifically for humans, why can’t they test their products on humans instead of animals? Also, not only is dissection important in research for high school or college students, but with scientific researchers, they can find cures to diseases in the species population.  

sources:

Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. (n.d.). Product testing of Cosmetics. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-science-research/product-testing-cosmetics

Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics. (2021, March 29). Fighting animal testing. Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://www.lushusa.com/stories/article_our-values-fighting-stories.html

Animals in science. rspca.org.uk. (n.d.). Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://science.rspca.org.uk/sciencegroup/researchanimals

animals in agriculture

Factory farming is harmful to animals and is harmful to the environment. It's also harmful to human health. Animal agriculture, also known as factory farming, is the industrialization of the breeding, raising, and slaughter of animals for human consumption at extremely large masses. Animals are being sold for mass production but are being treated like absolute trash. No one likes to farm  in mass productions anymore because of the extreme hard work and effort that is needed to care for these agricultural animals, therefore people treat the animals like toys. Animals can serve as a benefit, if they're kept in proper conditions. More education and enforcement should be part of proper welfare. Industrialization changed the ways of how people raised their food. It used to be your own family raising your own animals and doing the killing yourself. 

“From a business standpoint, factory farming is a brilliant way to maximize profits by dramatically increasing supply while simultaneously lowering production costs. And if factory farming was used to make cotton T-shirts or toys, it wouldn't be as objectionable as it is. However, the reality is that factory farming breeds animals for the sole purpose of slaughter. (Lingel 2019)″ Billions of farm animals are born into factory farms and raised in awful condions. They're fed improper diets and with bad welfare, zoonotic diseases are well-known in this industry. When you have unhealthy animals, the food can then sometimes be unhealthy for human consumption and can create diseases and infections from human consumption. 

Chickens are the most slaughtered agricultural animal. They're grown three times the normal rate causing loads of health issues. Most of the time they have difficulty holding their own body weight and walking.  Some animals never even go outside to see the sun and air, which is the bare minimum part of welfare, something that shouldn’t be avoided when involving yourself in the animal industry.  They have zero chance of living a “normal” life. It’s so depressing. 

Cognitive dissonance is part of the justification. I personally sometimes fall into this term because I enjoy chicken and meat but, at the same time I feel really  terrible for these animals going through what they're going through. I recently watched several videos about slaughterhouses and what they go through. I had to leave the room completely because I felt so bad and I almost threw up. I am sensitive to blood and doctoral related subjects. 

Lingel, G. (2020, December 12). Animal Agriculture: Negatively impacting the World Around Us. Sentient Media. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://sentientmedia.org/animal-agriculture/

companion animals & sheltering

Companion animals are animals that humans seek for companionship, like a pet. I have a companion animal myself. I have a 3 year old orange Bearded Dragon, named Venus. I have her as an ESA. Even though companion animals don't require any training, my ESA is only considered as an ESA with my family therapist’s letter. I also have a new 3 month old Pit bull/Husky mix, named Levi, back home. Unfortunately, some companion animals are abused. People don’t understand the proper training and education of how they're supposed to treat the animals. People think it’s okay to buy animals like big cats or primates, but those types of animals are wild and they belong in the wild. The housing isn’t equipped for these exotic species. A cute little tiger is going to turn into a wild animal that can eventually kill you.

Another issue that occurs very frequently is impulse buying a companion animal. Owners most of the time aren’t completely mentally prepared for the effort that it takes to create the proper welfare of these animals. Not only are they unaware, but they are wasting their own money. People see the good in owning an animal, and never the true meaning of proper husbandry. 

According to the ASPCA, “Approximately 6.3 million companion animals enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. Of those, approximately 3.1 million are dogs and 3.2 million are cats. We estimate that the number of dogs and cats entering U.S. shelters annually has declined from approximately 7.2 million in 2011. The biggest decline was in dogs (from 3.9 million to 3.1 million).”Sheltering or adopting a pet can be beneficial. It reduced pet overpopulation for animals that actually need a home, that have gone through extremely rough pasts.Shelter environments can create anxiety and stress for animals that stay. Shelters offer a bunch of a variety of benefits for the animals, like fostering, which can relieve some of those emotions that the animals are experiencing. 

references:

Companion animals. Animal Welfare Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2022, from https://awionline.org/content/companion-animals

Pet statistics. ASPCA. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2022, from https://www.aspca.org/helping-people-pets/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics

wildlife

Wildlife makes up the ecosystems of the world. Whether wildlife comes from the large oceans or the wild savanna biome in South Africa, conservation protects those natural ecosystems and helps endangered animals survive. 

Practices of conservation include planting trees picking up trash/reducing, reusing, recycling, and growing a garden. Deforestation is the main cause for loss of wildlife. When humans wipe out an entire area of land for themselves to build new businesses or housing, or they wipe out a species for profit on, for example, fur or antlers. Every day items that we use in our daily lives eventually lead into the water and air, and can affect the animals living there. Plants give us food, oxygen, and very important vitamins is part of the human body health. 

Wildlife tourism can also help the impact of conservation. Visiting national parks or areas where wildlife is the main event. I went to South Africa for a week to do a safari vacation with my family over last summer break. I saw many species of animals including wild rhinos elephants and giraffes. The black Rhino, a species of rhino that is critically endangered do to poaching and habitat loss by humans. The reason Rhinos are being poached is because of the high demand for their horns. Their horns are worth over $3000. Rhino horns have curtain and then which is used in Chinese medicine. Fortunately, in South Africa, legalities have been enforced on the banning of poaching of animals of any kind on the reserves. 

To summarize this blog post, wildlife helps keep the food chain in place. It is what makes up an entire ecosystem. Their drastic long-term effects of species loss. They will suffocate or die out. Our areas must be protected to keep the aesthetics in and ignorant people out!

Sources:

Threats to wildlife. National Wildlife Federation. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Threats-to-Wildlife

Why are Rhinos Endangered. Helping Rhinos. (n.d.). Retrieved March 21, 2022, from https://www.helpingrhinos.org/why-are-rhinos-endangered/

zoos & aquariums

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing zoos and aquariums in conservation, education, science, and recreation. AZA represents more than 235 sites in the United States and abroad, with a combined annual attendance of more than 200 million people. AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums adhere to the highest animal care and welfare requirements while providing a fun, safe, and educational experience for the whole family. They also invest millions of dollars each year in scientific research, conservation, and education projects.

Zoos and aquariums can be beneficial in some ways. Facilities that are recognized by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) are helpful because they uphold high standards in animal welfare, conservation, research, education, and recreation. All AZA-accredited institutions must follow the Association's strict, scientifically based, and publicly available criteria, which encompass all aspects of the facility's management, including animal welfare, veterinary care, conservation, education, and guest experiences. You can really see and educate yourself about a certain species that could be right close to you. 

These organizations can also have negative public perceptions with misinformation, more specifically on what animal welfare and animal rights are. Animal Welfare is not the same as Animal Rights. Animal Welfare works to improve animal husbandry, care, and ethics. Animal Rights assumes that animals understand the concept of having rights in the same way that humans do. Essentially, one wants animals to be happy and healthy, while the other anthropomorphizes animals and wishes to ignore the existence of a natural food chain.

Some facilities could improve on their husbandry and also if the business model operated on rehabilitation and release, not enough zoos or aquariums do that. For example, I feel like the size of some enclosures do look a little bit small. There’s always going to be news article headlines about some animal attacking a keeper or visitor. The animals are pretty much only attacking due to self defense. The visitor or keeper did something wrong and the animal might not feel safe. 

sources: 

About us: Association of Zoos & Aquariums. About Us | Association of Zoos & Aquariums. (n.d.). Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://www.aza.org/about-us 

Marcy, K. (2020, November 13). Why zoos and Aquariums are beneficial. Association of Zoos & Aquariums. Retrieved February 28, 2022, from https://www.aza.org/connect-stories/stories/benefits-of-zoos?locale=en

humans & animals in the media

Social media may influence how we view animals, Unfortunately, different kinds of context can be presented on these sites, depending on what message is being sent, and this may change how people perceive animals, for example, by making people more likely to want exotic species as pets.

People will typically post pictures and videos thinking they’re funny or expect a reaction. Because of the interactions with these posts, the algorithm goes up and those people go viral and make a profit from it. Some of the videos posted are videos about someone beating up their dog, for example. It saddens me how people could be so extremely heartless and cruel. Why would you even get a pet when you just treat it poorly and set your life up to kill your pet? These pets are DYING and people just sit there and laugh? It’s not morally right. We’re just sitting around not doing or saying anything.

From another perspective, I can see why people would not say anything. People don’t want to create drama and there is that knowledge that whatever animal is going through controversy, that you really can’t do anything about it other than maybe report the situation to higher officials if that’s where it needs to go. You can also educate people and teach them the behaviors that their animals are showing to help them change their welfare.

There are some genuinely good videos and social media posts about animals. I show my mom cute videos of Pitbulls doing simple tasks, like doing tricks, and it’s one of the ways my mom and I bond. An example that I believe is a good reputable influencer is Dean Schneider and his African life with the large cats and mammals. I first saw his work on his Instagram. He teaches us the big cat animal behaviors good and bad- the reality of hanging out with safari mammals.

source:

Riddle, E., & MacKay, J. (2020). Social Media Contexts Moderate Perceptions of Animals. Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 10(5), 845. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10050845

seaworld & blackfish

SeaWorld was created in 1964 in San Diego, CA by four entrepreneurs, and it has since expanded to Orlando, FL and Austin, TX. However, a tragic occurrence in February 2010 inspired a documentary, Blackfish, on SeaWorld's inside scoop and how the creatures are cared for behind the scenes. Dawn Brancheau was murdered by the Orca Whale, Tilikum, in February 2010. The documentary follows Tilikum's life up until Brancheau's death, resulting in financial and reputational consequences for SeaWorld. In response to the documentary, SeaWorld launched a website called 'The SeaWorld Truth,' claiming that their park is loving, truthful, and educational. But there were so many important insights regarding trauma in Blackfish.

I feel like people despise the thought of animals having rights because the people are unable to profit from their abuse, so animal rights as a concept is isolated. It's unusual that an animal rights documentary isn't subjected to misinformation and rejected as "propaganda," but some individuals don't want to know the truth and assume that what they're seeing is a false. PETA initiated a petition to have the AZA accreditation revokedthe parks' accreditation (I'm not going to link to it because I don't like giving their website traffic, but it should be easy to discover), but it wasn't taken seriously because PETA is opposed to everything the AZA stands for.

When I went to SeaWorld, I noticed that a lot of the enclosures were closed down either from maintenence or just closed down completley. It was kind of disappointing to walk all across the park, only to see the entrance areas closed off. I will say, the orca show was my favorite. I personally don’t know if SeaWorld actually created some kind of slight propaganda with the Orcas and Orca Show being that Blackfish was shown to the public. As an Anthrozoology student, I do have a very strong passion and drive to be around animals and care for them, so my views base off of the animals and how the animals are being treated, anywhere, not just with SeaWorld. With little to some reputable sources and information, who’s to say what the correct care of a certain species is?

source:

Waller, R. L., & Iluzada, C. L. (2019). Blackfishand SeaWorld: A case study in the framing of a crisis. International Journal of Business Communication, 57(2), 227–243. https://doi.org/10.1177/2329488419884139