In the past few months, a group of  my friends became vegan and switched over to cruelty-free products. Over the time that they were switching over to these products, I became curious with aspects of the world from that point of view. Looking into what all animals endure, from testing to abuse, for products that I don’t care that much for. After weeks of research on how animal cruelty affects my life, I made the switch over to cruelty-free products, such as the makeup I use and the products I wear. No animal’s life and sanity is worth a product that will eventually be thrown away.

Animal cruelty is when someone harms an animal or doesn’t care for an animal. This includes acts such as the starving, physically abusing, testing, slaughtering of animals, etc. For many years humans have been using animals as test subjects for a variety of purposes. Each year, in laboratory settings around the world, millions of animals are being used to gauge the toxicity of newly developed chemicals.

According to Jim Paulson, a professor at the University of Minnesota, sustainability is a “wicked problem” (Paulson). Wicked implies not evil, but more of a difficult, contradictory, and complex problem. Animal abuse is simple; While animal welfare and the sustainability of our systems is becoming a consumer perception issue. It is also becoming a profitability issue rather than a people issue. Corporate managers use these animals to increase profit instead of  properly treating them. Do consumers at grocery stores know that they must consider equal trade for their products?

The questions I proposed at the beginning of this assignment were, “Why are animals treated unfairly?” And, “Who are the stakeholders in terms of animal cruelty?” Through research I found that many people abuse or neglect animals for the sole purpose of the way they were treated throughout their life. A study was conducted by Cambridge University Press to determine if children exposed to domestic violence were significantly more likely to be cruel to animals than children not exposed to violence. Study results proved that animal cruelty by children is correlated with exposure to domestic violence (sample of 80+ households). As for regards of stakeholders in the topic of animal cruelty the people who wouldn’t be benefiting from better treating animals are corporate managers who gain profits from mass slaughtering of animals for consumption.

 Possible solutions could be reducing the amount of products available for consumers that had animals treated poorly to produce, so the demand for other products raise and elite corporate managers gain the same amount of profit, if not more. Another solution would be to have background checks done on mentally unstable people who wish to be pet owner to reduce the amount of household animal abuse.

The best proposed idea would be to slowly begin to close the gap of animal abuse would be to have people who have a mental illness to have more restrictions on owning animals and should have updates on how their doing with their animals. As the study showed, people who were abused throughout their life were more likely to abuse their animals, so by having these restrictions the percentages will decrease and animals will be in possession of owners capable of taking care of them.

There is no excuse for animal abuse. As of this moment in time, to help at the very least: get rid of all products you own that were produced from abusing animals. From clothing to products and if you wish you can go as far as changing your dietary habits from consuming meat to making the transition to veganism. Another way you can help solve this issue is by reporting to local animal cruelty organizations if you suspect members of the community abusing their pets or other animals and the organization is, by law, required to investigate the alleged crime.  

Works Cited

“Animal Testing.” Issues & Controversies. Infobase Learning, 16 Apr. 2015. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.<http://icof.infobaselearning.com/recordurl.aspx?ID=14917>.

Cambridge Core. Jan. 2000, www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-child-psychology-and-psychiatry-and-allied-disciplines/article/child-abuse-and-neglect-and-the-braina-review/9641D03BDF4B3FAE8D9C793A2E135971. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016.

University of Minnesota Dairy Extension. 16 July 2010, www.extension.umn.edu/agriculture/dairy/farm-life/sustainability-is-a-wicked-problem/. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016.