Go Vegetarian!

"How can one, who eats the flesh of others to swell his flesh, show compassion?"

TIRUVALLUVAR, Tirukkural



Research Memo 3!

            Did you know that millions of animals are abused each year? The video “Animal Cruelty- Angel” informs citizens in America about the issue and what it does to animals. The video displays animals being abused, hurt, and in need of a loving, caring home. The song “Angel” goes with the theme very well and shows that animals do not hurt people because they are innocent creatures that we should appreciate. Animals are creatures we should love not hurt.

            The “Stop Animal Abuse” picture displays a dog that needs to feel free and not be stuck in cages all its life. It also shows awareness that animal abuse should be stopped and that the dog is not happy with being tortured or beaten. What if that was you? I know that most people would rather have an affectionate, loving, and adoring family. The picture also gets straight to the point and tells you to stop because obviously you’re hurting the animal.

            The main picture of the dog behind a fence displays that the animal is not happy and feels the need to be free again. The area around her looks deprived, horrific, and shocking. Although it could be worse, any animal would not want to stay in that dreadful place.  It could be an animal shelter or it could be a place where her owner keeps her. If it was an animal shelter she would be in good care. Altogether the picture presents the animal being not pleased with her surroundings.       

            The second video is called “hidden video on animals being killed in the meat industry” and it is about going vegetarian. It gives you an inside look about where your food really comes from and how these animals are tortured. This video is very informational and persuades you to go vegetarian and informs you about what really goes on. It is like going behind the scenes and figuring out what actually goes on.

"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love." - Pythagoras, (Pre-Socratic Greek Philosopher)

Preliminary Links!

http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cruelty/

This website is for fighting animal cruelty. It provides helpful facts and stories about animals that have been abused. It also provides awareness and ways to prevent animal abuse.

http://www.americanhumane.org/interaction/support-the-bond/fact-sheets/animal-abuse-domestic-violence.html

The American Humane Society provides reliable facts and stories about animal abuse. It is a reliable source for good information. It also connects with human abuse and violence.

http://www.peta.org/

This website is the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals.  This organization helps me with my research by giving me useful information so I can further examine animal abuse.

http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/animal_cruelty.php

This website is useful to me because it provides me with different types of animal abuse. I find that this website will help me with finding facts and statistics about animal abuse.

Research Memo 2!

Research Memo #2

Animal Abuse is a current issue in the United States of America. According to ASPCA every 10 seconds an animal is abused or neglected.  It is up to the citizens of America to make a difference by learning where to report animal cruelty, paying attention, making calls, and building a team in your neighborhood to raise awareness. You can take action by helping an innocent animal. There are hoarders, puppy mills, and dog fighting taking place throughout America.

Animal hoarding is when a person collects numerous animals and cannot take care of all the animals that are in there home.  Animal hoarders can be male or female and range in age. The ASPCA states that all hoarders have a commonality “Failure to grasp the severity of their situation.”  An animal hoarder thinks that all his/her animals are happy and healthy when most of the time they are not. If you enter their house there might be strong smell ammonia. Most hoarders don’t socialize, fleas are everywhere, and he/she is isolated from the community. These are all signs of animal hoarders.

Did you know where your puppy from the pet store came from? Most puppies in well known pet stores are from puppy mills. Puppy mills are where dogs are bred as much as possible and are in unsanitary conditions that are not healthy.  The alternatives for pet shops that sell those unhealthy puppies are animal shelters that have animals that are healthy, cute, and just need a loving home. Peta agrees that you should “adopt not buy.”

Dog fighting is spread everywhere in the United States of America.  Dog fighting is training dogs to fight or hurt other dogs. People that train their dogs to fight find it entertaining and earn money for admission. New York recently passed a bill stating that attending a dog fight in New York a misdemeanor offense and is now in effect.  Put a stop to dog fighting in the rest of the United States of America.

Overall, dog fighting, puppy mills, and animal hoarding all count as animal cruelty and the citizens of America need to put a stop to animal cruelty. Prevent this issue from happening in your community and raise awareness about animal abuse. One call can make a difference. Report the issue if you see something that does not look right. Take action and save an animal!

Follow up: Next I will focus on if there is a psychological reason why people abuse animals? How does animal abuse affect a person later in life? Does it lead to human violence?

Research Memo 1!

Furry Friends Shouldn’t Be Abused!

Section 1 Hypothesis: How does animal abuse affect America? I believe that this issue needs more awareness and prevention. I predicted that everyone would agree would agree that animal abuse is a major issue in the United States and that we as citizens should prevent and help people learn about the topic. My survey incorporated ten questions, including the statement “According to the ASPCA there is a link between animal abuse and human abuse.” The option was to decide if the statement was true or false; it was true. Overall, I think this topic was the right choice for me!

Section 2 Context: My target audience was animal lovers. I would not want to target people that don’t like animals because they wouldn’t care about the issue. I chose these people to take my survey because they owned pets or they just like animals overall. I asked citizens before they took the survey if they liked animals. I think my results are valid and reliable because almost everyone agreed on the same questions and answered the same.  I don’t think any data was invalid questioning.

Section 3 Results: Figure 1 displays how many people were aware and think the United States should focus on this issue.

Questions:	How Citizens Responded:
Should we allow exotic pet trade?	Yes-1 No-24
Is exotic pet trade illegal?	Yes-22 No-3
Do you think Animal Abuse is a problem in South Carolina?	Yes-20 No-0 Not sure-5
Do you think Animal Abuse is a problem in the U.S?	Yes-22 No-1 Not sure-2

Section 4 Data Analysis: In my data I noticed three findings or patterns with all of the survey results. Most people did not know what exotic pet trade was until I verbally explained what it was but they all agreed that it should not be allowed in the U.S.  For example, exotic pet trade would include owning a tiger as a pet. Should that be allowed? No it shouldn’t because those types of animals should be in their natural habitat. The second finding from the information is everyone agreed that animal abuse needs more awareness in the U.S. and in South Carolina. My third finding was that everyone strongly agreed with “According to the ASPCA there is a link between animal abuse and human abuse.”  I was very surprised with these results because I did not expect people to know about the connection.

Section 5 Conclusion: In conclusion, most people or animal lovers agree that we need more awareness and that in order to prevent people from animal abuse we need to help citizens learn about the problem. I was correct; we need to educate more people about animal abuse in order to prevent these situations. I did not expect people to not like animals because when I first started the surveys I targeted everyone but after I realized that they did not care about animal abuse I targeted animal lovers.

Section 6 Follow Up: For research memo number two I would like to get more information on dog fighting in America. I have not changed my research question and will continue to find more information on animal abuse throughout America.