Small Things Count

We abhor animal cruelty.  Still, we ignore it in our entertainment.  For example, rodeos are fun, but they put animals in stressful situations and shock them or twist their tails to make them run faster and buck harder.  Circus animals perform fabulous tricks, learned through harsh training. (Every big circus has been cited for violations of minimum animal-care standards.)  We enjoy playing with our exotic pet—probably captured from its native habitat. Some people enjoy their animals so much that, although they can’t properly care for them, they acquire more and more (900-2000 new cases each year in the U.S. of animal hoarding). Then there’s dog fighting, which happens throughout the U.S. in urban, suburban, and rural areas. We can’t stop all of this cruelty overnight.  What we can do is to be aware of what’s happening, speak out against it, support animal-protection laws, and, above all, teach our children that torturing animals for our entertainment is NOT right.