Saturday, January 12, 2008Y
6:32 AM
FEATURE ARTICLEHave you ever thought about getting a pet dog? But have your parents strongly object to it? Well, they're doing a good thing. Because by objecting, they'll make you think about the responsibilities and sacrifices of getting a dog. Animal abuse throughout the world is becoming more and more common. And it is due to the rash decision of getting a dog. Some parents give in to the child too much to say no to getting a pet. After a while, the child gets sick of the pet dog and doesn’t care for it anymore. Animal abuse cases rise by the fifth in the United Kingdom and neglect remains the most common crime. So, I urge all “animal lovers” out there to think carefully before getting a dog. It isn’t just the food and shelter but the daily walks and grooming. A dog can live up to 15 years depending on the breed. Also, owners should look out for a dog’s special needs, for example, grooming.
A ten-year-old shih tzu called Gizmo was so badly matted after not being groomed or trimmed for more than two whole years that it was unrecognizable as a dog. The dog’s owner, Wendy Callan, 37, from Handsworth, Birmingham, was banned from keeping animals for ten years. There was this boy, only eleven years of age, who was regularly killing his pets. This boy was being bullied at school and whenever he had a run-in with the bullies, he would come home and kill his favourite pet. SSPCA superintendent Mike Flynn said, “when we were called to remove the remaining animals, the lad attacked us with a baseball bat. His mother started crying and told us that the boy’s father, who she had left recently, used to beat her with a baseball bat and harm the animals. The boy was just mimicking the behaviour.” Another serious case of animal abuse happened in Edinburge. About fourteen police officers and Scottish SPCA officers raided two addresses in the Inch area of the city. One dog was found at each address and examinations confirmed that they were pit bulls – a breed branded illegal in the United Kingdom. Dog fighting is a cruel activity which should have died out long ago. The participating dogs are agitated by their handlers and released to attack each other, inflicting injuries which are often life-threatening. SSPCA superintendent Mike Flynn said, “All the dogs are victims of cruelty that starts long before their first fight and during their fighting “career” they will inflict and suffer horrific injuries.” These dogs rarely receive professional veterinarian treatment as a vet would recognise the wounds as being consistent with dog fighting.
Spokeswoman Katie Geary said: “from what our inspectors are saying, there seems to be an increase in the level of violence. In the past where an animal was hit once, it’s now hit many times or repeatedly or stabbed.” Many cases handled by the RSPCA result not from a single act of sadism but from long-term neglect. Anecdotal evidence has shown that an abusive partner will threaten dogs and cats, kick or harm the animals, even put poisonous substances in goldfish water, as a means of controlling the other person in the relationship. Doreen Graham, spokeswoman for the Scottish SPCA said: “we need to get people out of thinking ‘oh, it’s only a dog’.
Having a pet dog has many benefits, for example, having a dog is one of the remaining reasons why people go for walks. They will ensure that you have a daily dosage of exercise and they’ll always be there for you. However, be sure that you understand the needs of a pet before you get one. For more information, please go to http://search.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?scope=all&edition=i&q=animal+abuse.