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The student voice of Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, Ohio

The Leaf

The student voice of Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, Ohio

The Leaf

The student voice of Sycamore High School in Cincinnati, Ohio

The Leaf

Cruelty needs to stop: a look at animal abuse

SPCA Cincinnati is an animal shelter and humane society that continually strives to strengthen the human-animal bond and improve the welfare of animals by fostering the humane care and treatment of all animals. Through humane education and animal protection, we improve the quality of life in our community. Photo courtesy of MCTPhoto.
SPCA Cincinnati is an animal shelter and humane society that continually strives to strengthen the human-animal bond and improve the welfare of animals by fostering the humane care and treatment of all animals. Through humane education and animal protection, we improve the quality of life in our community. Photo courtesy of MCT Photo.

Animal Abuse statistics from 2007 illustrate that out of all animal cruelty stories, 64.5 percent (1,212 cases) were involving dogs. There are two kinds of animal cruelty that can be traced back to being considered animal abuse.

“It is scary to hear about stories where people treat their pets so horribly. My dogs are a part of my family and I would be crushed if anything happened to them,” said Alexis Davis, 11.

The first is active cruelty, which is cruelty caused with the intent to harm an animal, creating immediate pain and suffering. The other, passive cruelty is harm imposed via malicious neglect creating lasting suffrage.

Animals can be physically beaten, starved, and even abandoned, all of which happens while showing the animal no affection.

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“The SPCA has helped a lot of animals recover after going through such terrible events,” said Davis.

Mistreatment like this can end up disabling, or even worse, killing creatures. Animals, of course, cannot do anything about these situations.  Only people can save them and bring their owners to justice.

Both types are brutality towards companion animals, animals used for research, industrial factory farm animals, and animals used for sport and ritual.

“I think that if people are going to treat their animals like this than they shouldn’t have animals in the first place,” said Angela Green, 12.

People and animals live together, and for us to live harmoniously we have to treat each other with respect. Human beings are the highest form of living things on the earth; we are the ones who are responsible for caring for animals.

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About the Contributor
Lauren Glynn, Leaflet Editor-In-Chief
I am a senior at SHS. This is my fourth year on staff and I am the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Leaflet, our online magazine. I am also a very active staff member of The Leaf and our website, shsleaf.org. While I have many responsibilities, my main job is to collaborate with other editors and staff members to create the best publications we can. In my spare time I work as an editorial intern at a magazine called Cincy Chic. I am also the president of the SHS Future Educators Association chapter. I work as a teaching assistant throughout schools in the Sycamore District all while writing 24 essays for a portfolio that will be judged by college professors at the end of the school year. I love being surrounded by journalism and designing pages with Adobe products such as InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. I hope to continue in the fields of journalism and education as I progress on to college and then I hope to pursue either as a career. To see more of my writing, check out my How to blog!
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Cruelty needs to stop: a look at animal abuse