Animal abuses have sparked a new level of concern among the public over the recent years.
Although more (education, campaigns and etc) is being done to educate the mass public, it is ironic that we do not see the cases of animal abuses ceasing. Could it simply be the fact that people are becoming ignorant or the fact that people are oblivious to the happenings in society today?
In my opinion, the rise in animal abuses is caused by 2 factors, the media and the society. Due to the amount of stress level in society today, people are taking out on these helpless animals. To make matter worse, these abusers usually get away scot-free, due to lack of evidences or unwillingness of witnesses coming forward to identify them. The ignorance of people will indirectly cause the offender to repeatedly commit these immoral acts. Perhaps if the government is willing to impose a heavier fine on the offender and reward witnesses, it may help make the situation better. I also personally do not think the current jail term or fine imposed on these offenders are harsh enough to make them realised their wrong-doings.
People also often make haste decisions after watching shows that portray extremely adorable pets and how joyous it is of owning them. Shows often do not emphasize on the workload and responsibility that comes along with it, and when pet owners come to a realisation, many regret and eventually turn to the SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) for solution, but there’s only so much SPCA can do. The dogs are given a limited period to live. If they do not get adopted within the given time, they will be put down, depriving them of their rights to live on. Is this not cruelty to the animals who have done nothing wrong? Hence I think the media should review the way they communicate with the audiences, and to revise the contents of their show so as to convey a message to audiences that, although pets can be a bundle of joy, one should always consider the trouble that comes along with it, and I must complement the movie, Marley and I for successfully bringing message across.
If we all work together, we can give these animals better lives. They too, have a right to live well, and it is our right, to make the world better.
Although more (education, campaigns and etc) is being done to educate the mass public, it is ironic that we do not see the cases of animal abuses ceasing. Could it simply be the fact that people are becoming ignorant or the fact that people are oblivious to the happenings in society today?
In my opinion, the rise in animal abuses is caused by 2 factors, the media and the society. Due to the amount of stress level in society today, people are taking out on these helpless animals. To make matter worse, these abusers usually get away scot-free, due to lack of evidences or unwillingness of witnesses coming forward to identify them. The ignorance of people will indirectly cause the offender to repeatedly commit these immoral acts. Perhaps if the government is willing to impose a heavier fine on the offender and reward witnesses, it may help make the situation better. I also personally do not think the current jail term or fine imposed on these offenders are harsh enough to make them realised their wrong-doings.
People also often make haste decisions after watching shows that portray extremely adorable pets and how joyous it is of owning them. Shows often do not emphasize on the workload and responsibility that comes along with it, and when pet owners come to a realisation, many regret and eventually turn to the SPCA (Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) for solution, but there’s only so much SPCA can do. The dogs are given a limited period to live. If they do not get adopted within the given time, they will be put down, depriving them of their rights to live on. Is this not cruelty to the animals who have done nothing wrong? Hence I think the media should review the way they communicate with the audiences, and to revise the contents of their show so as to convey a message to audiences that, although pets can be a bundle of joy, one should always consider the trouble that comes along with it, and I must complement the movie, Marley and I for successfully bringing message across.
If we all work together, we can give these animals better lives. They too, have a right to live well, and it is our right, to make the world better.
I totally agree that the current jail term and fine imposed are not harsh enough to prevent future abuses as the masses are generally able to handle either quite easily and forget about the whole incident once it's over. The existence of the jail term and the fine in the first place is to act as a deterrent to anyone even considering abusing any animal. If they do not serve their purpose and animal abuses are still increasing, then what is the use of having them or not?
ReplyDeletei think the media's role here is to be involved in communicating this across through educational campaigns. They did it for Dengue and now for the Swine Flu, i think the only problem is agenda setting issues. Whether animal testing is on the top of the list for the media to care enough about this.
ReplyDeleteI agree that people have to be more aware about these animal abuses and that the media have to step up in educating the people to be much more aware about it, just like what Danielle stated above.
ReplyDeleteThe media's role is to communicate messages across wide masses and it's the easiest and fastest way to get them across to hundreds and thousands of people.
With joy comes responsibility and pet owners or people who are thinking of owning pets should be completely aware before making that decision.
Yes.. taking responsibility of pets is a big issue. but in terms of animal abusers getting off scot-free? I think the punishment is quite harsh. a jail term is not something that should be considered lenient. And from what I know, most of these abusers are usually of unsound mind, like you said, due to stress levels and such.
ReplyDeleteSo, increasing the punishments for animal abusers might not be the most effective solution as these abusers have lost their sense of logic and perhaps deem the act of animal abuse as something normal and acceptable.
I think that the media influences too much on our psychological mindet and often play with your pathos.
ReplyDeleteIn the past when I was still a young child. I always thought that taking care of pets would be easy as commercial only showed the fun part of owning a pet. They intentionally select not to show the tough part, taking care of pets in terms of hygiene and health etc.
Enforcing harsh punishments sound good, but how do they go about catching pets abusers red handed?
Rather than enforcing even stricter laws & punishments for animal abuse or neglect, i think the public should be better educated & these education programmes should appeal to their pathos.
ReplyDeletei agree that the media has wrongly portrayed having pets as fun & easy which has led to many people getting pets on a whim.
Educational messages should focus on the negative effects on animal neglect & how severely this can affect pets. the public in general do not abuse their pets, however many do not realise that neglect is also a form of abuse & can be just as bad or worse then certain forms of abuse. i strongly urge the government to step up on its efforts in educating the public / pet lovers thinking of getting pets.
Personally, I do not think the current laws and punishments against animal abuse should be deemed as too harsh or too lenient. Nor do I think the educational messages, that have been conveyed by the media - again and again - are inadequate.
ReplyDeleteWhile I acknowledge the efforts that have been put into trying to appeal to people to not abuse animals (meaning, if you cannot be nice to them, the least you could do is leave them alone), I cannot say the same about people who choose to ignore these messages.
It does shed light on humanity when people, being supposedly educated, being supposedly capable of treating other people properly (of course, with the few exceptions), choose to treat animals otherwise.
Why so? Just because they are poor, defenseless, smaller, albeit living creatures?
It causes me to reconsider the human ability to understand and receive messages, when one has already been repeatedly conveyed (in vain).
Cruelty to animals may result in 'imprisonment of up to 12 months and/or a fine of up to $10,000, that is the punishment in Singapore for animal cruelty. Even if the offenders are caught, I really think that the sentences they get does no reinforcement to help deter the public from animal cruelty.
ReplyDeleteIf the same kind of punishment is being applied to humans, it would cause an uproar. But why not to animals? Just because they are animals, does that makes their lives seem any "smaller" too? Yes, the least one could do is to leave the animal alone if one does not like them. Where did all the compassion go to?
Rearing pets at home is a huge responsibilities and indeed if one isn't able to commit to it and love it like it's part of the family, then he or she should consider. Instead of getting tired of them after a length of time and abandon them which creates the issue of stray animals roaming our neighborhoods. And pet shops bring in certain popular breeds just 'cos it's the "trend" helps contribute to the issue. The density of our residential areas are not suited for the survival of these animals and it is also a form of cruelty to them.
I think we could definitely do better, with a little compassion and consideration.