http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/html/cruelty_laws.html
This is a website that is all about being an advocate for animals. There are now 41 states plus the District of Columbia that have felony charges for people who abuse animals. This website talks about the Animal Welfare Act, which is the federal law that provides regulations for shelters, pounds and places that recover stolen animals. It also shows each state and what their charges are for people who abuse and neglect their animals. There are also other places you can go to on this website that talk about de-clawing and the laws with that, as well as sterilization and shelter laws.
There are also a lot of shows on tv that deal with animal cruelty. One particular show is Animal Cops on Animal Planet. They rescue animals that have been abused or neglected and take them to the vet or to the pound where they can be adopted. The cops then arrest the people who abused the animals and give them proper punishment they deserve.
I think it's great that there are more TV shows about the realities of animal cruelty and abuse because I think it's one of those things that bothers people but if it's out of sight, it's out of mind. It's important that the individuals that have abused an animal be punished immediately and harshly enough to get the point across that it is wrong to harm an animal that isn't defending itself, and in most cases relies on a human to provide it with food, water, and shelter. I think it's similar to child abuse, because a child can't take care of itself or defend itself against an adult, the same way an animal can't.
I think it's important to punish the adults and children that are abusing animals because a lot of studies have found that animal cruelty can often lead to violence toward fellow human beings. Discovering and stopping the problem before it escalates is beneficial for all of society.
This post reminded me of a link one of my friends posted on Facebook the other day.
This link provides a story about a cat who was nailed, yes nailed, by its leg to a pole.
http://qctimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/barb-ickes/article_f4ca143a-437d-11df-a79f-001cc4c002e0.html
What does animal cruelty and torture have to do with psychology? A link exists between animal cruelty in childhood and the development of personality disorders, particularly antisocial personality disorders in later adulthood.
Here is a link to a synopsis of a study done in 2002 concerning the link between animal cruelty and the development of personality disorders.
http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/37/18/22.2.full
The synopsis states that "animal cruelty is currently used as evidence for the presence of conduct disorder, and evidence of conduct disorder is in turn a prerequisite for diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder in adults." While it is true that conduct disorder in some cases is determinant of antisocial personality disorder, it is also true that around half of the individuals who were labeled as having a conduct disorder in childhood did not develop antisocial personality disorder in adulthood.
The study found that there were more cases of antisocial personality disorder in the animal cruelty group than the control group. These results may be misleading though because the sample was selected from the criminal population. Antisocial personality disorder is found in about 1 percent of the population as a whole, however, about 25 percent of prison inmates have antisocial personality disorder.
The sample was also exclusively men, which is probably acceptable since most individuals with antisocial personality disorder are men (women with similar behavior are likely to be labeled with a different personality disorder, possibly borderline personality disorder). Because of this, I think it is good that the authors point out that animal cruelty is likely linked to more personality disorders other than antisocial personality disorder.
Back to the original post, I think it is great that there are punishments for this type of behavior. I am currently working on a research project with a faculty member concerning pet attachment in the elderly population. Undoubtedly, people view their animals, especially dogs, as part of the family. I know I treat my dog like she is part of my family (she practically thinks she's human) and would be very, very upset if somebody did something to her.
I personally don't understand how anybody could nail a cat to a tree or torture animals (besides insects, they don't count) in any way. In agreement to the previous comment, I think that it is extremely necessary to punish the cruel behaviors before they become internalized, normal, and possibly develop into personality disorders in later life!
I hate to be the bad guy here, but animal cruelty is not high on my priority list. Its already hard enough to categorize, diagnose, and treat those afflicted with disorders related to violence against humans. Each and every night there are over a BILLION people on the planet that go to sleep hungry. Now I'm only playing the devils advocate, and there are certainly a zillion organizations and social movements out there in this big world that are not worthy of the attention they receive. CELEBRITIES AND SPORTS FOR EXAMPLE! Imagine if just a portion of the money people spend on flippin cable television, sports apparel and tickets, tailgating, fan magazines, and the like were diverted to real human causes like hunger and healthcare. While preventing animal cruelty is certainly more important than the lame interests I mentioned, I would much rather spend my time and effort towards feeding a hungry family or providing someone with clean drinking water before I picket a senator for animal abuse. But I'm still on board with ya:)