Animal abuse is a serious problem facing humanity—“according to Stephanie Ernest’s ‘Animal Use and Abuse Statistics: The Shocking Numbers’ every year, 6 to 8 million dogs and cats enter shelters, and 3 to 4 million shelter dogs and cats are killed” (Ernest). Just because they are not as evolved as humans does not mean they do not feel pain and suffer the cruelty they endure. However there are complications to animal abuse; humans can report violence, an animal cannot.

Due to this I believe that all animals should be registered and there should be quarterly checkups on the animals. There are flaws in this idea but there are also great effects from it. It is not possible to get everyone to register their animal especially an animal abuser who is aware it will lead to check ups. On the positive side this will generate jobs and reduce the amount of animal abuse.

Another thing that needs to be done is revision of animal cruelty laws. Animal cruelty should be a felony, with high fine amounts and long prison terms. “According to ‘Pet-Abuse.com’ six states do not have felony provisions for cruelty to animals, many states have low max fines—as low as one-thousand dollars, and many states have between six months and two years of jail time for animal abuse” (Animal Cruelty Laws: Felony vs. Misdemeanor).

These numbers seem unreasonable to me. I believe the numbers should be much higher and that all states should enforce felony provisions for animal cruelty. If you kill a human you go to jail for at least 25 years, why is an animal so different? I understand it would not be fair to jail someone for 25 years for killing an animal, but why not ten years? We must find numbers that are fair and just to both the animal and the human abuser.

One problem that we have is an overwhelming number of domesticated animals that go into shelters every year. These shelters cannot keep these animals forever and eventually have to put them to sleep. Laws should be made that require people to either apply for a permit to breed dogs or make them pay a large fine for having not permitted dog birth. This would be hard to monitor but with today’s technology there would be some method of doing it.

Domestic animal abuse is not the only kind. Factories torture animal in their conquest to turn animals into food. I am not saying we should all turn vegetarian and stop eating meat—we just need to harvest our meat in a more appropriate manner. “According to ‘Animal Use and Abuse Statistics: The Shocking Numbers’ fifty billion animals are killed yearly for food, many who are still young adolescents” (Ernest).

The animals should not live caged in tiny areas with the sole purpose to being fattened up. They should be allowed to roam large, open fields where they can be happy. When they live for so little it is that much worse too. If we were to let them have some freedoms then they would not feel as bad. “According to ‘Whyanimalsmatter.com’ most factory animals live in sickening conditions and that most animals are conscious when killed” (Factory Farming).

Also animals used as food should be killed in humane ways only. Cutting up an animal while they are alive is inhumane and should not be done. Animals should be unconscious when they are killed and taken apart. We must treat these creatures with respect after all.

Drug testing should not be done on animals. This is another type of animal abuse. What makes an animal worth testing when we are not willing to try it on a human?

To solve this issue we must find an alternate like a non-sentient being or else limit the amount of animals able to be used for drug testing.

Therefore we should raise the laws on animal abuse of factory animals and tell these companies that use them as food that they must raise the standard of living for their animals or face jail time and fines.

Because of our superiority over animals and their lack of ability to fight back, we must defend them ourselves. If we fail to do this the animals have a dim and unfair future. Therefore we must take actions to keep animals safe from abusive owners, uncaring factories, and curious scientists.