April is Prevention of Animal Cruelty Month. No doubt we have our work cut out for us. Cruelty is so rampant that I could fill my blog with accounts of horrific acts every single day of the year. And those are only the stories that I see or get sent to me – imagine how much goes unreported and undiscovered. We have to stop it.
By now, many people are familiar Patrick’s incredible tale of suffering and rescue. The Pit Bull puppy was for weeks intentionally starved, and when he appeared all but lifeless, thrown into the garbage by his owner.
An extremely graphic, disturbing image of Patrick upon discovery is found here (the above photo was snapped more recently). If you have the fortitude, view it, and take comfort in the knowledge that this dog was rescued. You can read about his miraculous recovery and follow his progress here.
But there are plenty of animals who aren’t so “lucky.” Snoop’s owners deemed their new puppy too expensive to feed. According to the change.org website (warning: another graphic photo), an informant told police “the puppy was covered in feces and shaking the last time that he was seen in February.” A week ago, Snoop was found lying on the sidewalk not far from his home, too weak to lift his head. He died shortly thereafter.
With so much of our resources going to rescue – tending to those who are already victims – how do we prevent such suffering? Part of the answer is education, part is stiffer and more widely enforced ant-cruelty laws, and part is creating and maintaining a comprehensive database of known animal abusers.
Demand such legislation from your government representatives. Support organizations like the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Volunteer. Lobby. Teach compassion. It is not enough to simply not do bad. We must actively, urgently do good.
There’s so much to be done and we’re already off to a devastatingly late start.
