Response

                                        Abuse/Cruelty

            My entire life I have grown up surrounded by farms, animals and the caring people who tend to them.  Many of us care for animals and they become our responsibility so we normally get attached to them.  Like my dog Bella for example, she is 3 years old and I have had her since she was born.  Over this time span we have bonded, when I am happy, she gets excited.  When I am sad, she sits and stairs at me while licking my hand.  In my eyes, she is my friend, but can animals really be our friends?  Children may think of them as family and some adults even treat them like their children, whether they are domestic or farm animals. 

            Although our relationship with animals is very complex, most care for them and love them.  Yet, we also eat them? Some people even abuse them.  Does eating the meat make us abusers also?  Located about 15 minutes away from my house, is a local Dairy Farm.  I was in complete shock when I heard the stories of this farm. 

            A few men at this farm were videotaped gruesomely abusing the dairy cows and their baby calves.  A man attempting to feed one of the calves, gets frustrated and twisted its neck almost in a full circle.  As it flops to the ground, the man mounts it and starts punching it in the face repeatedly.  Breaking baby calves legs and necks, while stomping on their heads.  A small town girl like me was in complete shock that someone had done this.  My town and the surrounding areas are known for farming and agriculture, so this horrific act was unusual news. The way I was raised, this behavior is unacceptable. 

            Then I got to thinking, maybe these people had grown up differently then I had.  Even though they lived in the same area, they seemed to have a different opinion on the matter.  What could make them think this was okay?  Grabbing their tales and snapping them in half to get them to move.  Maybe their parents had raised them this way?  They might have grown up around animal abuse and therefore, they think it is acceptable.  One man was bragging about the abuse he inflicted on these animals and laughing about sending them to the slaughter house.   The aggression towards these animals has to have an underlying reason.  They could have even been abused themselves as children?  They might have anger built up inside and are taking it out on the animals, who can't fight back. 

             Animals may not have voices that we can understand but I think they can feel pain, they moan and cry out.  They long for their children as we do.  They give birth to their babies, who are immediately taken away from them upon being born.  Working at a farm, these men knew what happens to the animals when they get hurt or injured.  They go to the slaughter house, but they are helping send them there by abusing them.  Do they want these animals to suffer?  Why take their anger out on them? 

            We all enjoy the luxuries that these cows provide, such as milk and meat, but don't stop to think where it really comes from and how it is made.  The lives of these animals are anything but satisfactory compared to humans.  Does this show just how inhumane and animalistic we can be also?  Yet, we are left to decide their fate.  Based on these men's actions, are we, as humans, any more mentally stable then an animal? 

            The abuse doesn't end with dairy farms, it takes place all around the world.  Most people could relate more to the abuse of a human, rather than the abuse to an animal.  Whether it is a human or an animal, we all know that it is wrong to inflict pain on others.  So why do we treat animals or other people in this manner?  In the eye of most, cruelty is truly a repulsive act, but as we all know, there are others who don't feel the same.  Some may even consider it as a "sport." 

            There are thousands of horses bread every year for the "sport" of horse racing but not all of them can be racing material.  The ones who don't make the cut, are sent to the slaughter house to produce dog food, as well as the retired and injured horses.  There are some who are pets, or show horses.  Some people take pride in their horses and love to show them off and ride them just for pleasure.  The race horses I think, are the ones who suffer the most.   Before they are sent to the slaughter house, most are abused and even tortured.  Simply because they can no longer race, therefore, they are not making the owner any money, giving them no purpose.  A lot of these horses are neglected and abandoned to fend for themselves.  Slowly dying from starvation, as their organs shut down and they become skin and bones.  After being left to decompose, their bodies are dumped like trash.  Again, I return to the question, why?            

         The owners of these horses know what it takes to care for these large animals, yet they chose to neglect them.  Maybe the owner himself was neglected.  These horses and cows live to provide for humans and when they can no longer provide, while living, they are killed to serve other purposes.  I am curious to know, if people ever take a deeper look and think that maybe the food their dogs eat, as well as the food they eat themselves, comes from the suffering or happiness of an animal?  If you had pain in your feet to where you could not walk, you would go to the doctor.  Well, horses shoes need to be changed and if not, it causes extreme pain an disables them from walking.  Their hooves will grow around the metal shoes and become embedded into their feet.  Yet, the owners still chose to neglect their needs. 

            Horse racing is a very competitive and expensive "sport," so the upkeep of horses who can no longer race are looked at as unnecessary expenses.  I've thought, once or twice, what it would be like to be an animal.  Sure it seems great, not having to work, go to school or deal with drama.  Then again, maybe it wouldn't be so marvelous.  The intense training that these horses are put through seems like abuse in itself to me.  Oddly enough, it is acceptable for the drivers to whip horses during races to make them go faster.         

          Yet, people don't see the abuse they endure off of the race track.  It can cause unnatural stress and create major health problems, such as, stomach ulcers and bleeding of the lungs.  On top of that, some owners give horses steroids, to make them perform "better."  I wonder if people know about the things that happen beyond the race track when it comes to horse racing?  What do people gain from abusing animals or humans?  Cows and horses are not the only victims of abuse, cats, dogs, roasters, pigs and much more are at the mercy of human beings.  Animals may not be on our level of intelligence but does that give us the right to make their already short lived lives miserable?  I could ponder for days.