By Pamela Roller

Most people have heard about Michael Vick and his 23-month sentence for a dogfighting conspiracy. With the media blitz on this NFL quarterback’s conviction, I have been made more aware of animal cruelty. I Googled animal cruelty and was unpleasantly shocked at what I found. For the sake of space, I’ll limit my report on household dogs and cats.

The pictures of abused animals shown here are from the Louisiana SPCA and the Carroll County Humane Society.

Animal cruelty is generally divided into two types:


Passive cruelty (called acts of omission) involves neglect: lack of food and water, veterinary care, failure to remove the animal’s collar when he outgrows it, leaving a dog on a short chain with little access to exercise, and neglecting to spay or neuter, which can lead to health issues and more unwanted pets.

Active cruelty (called acts of commission) involves the intent to cause malicious harm to an animal. This type of cruelty is much more serious because the person doing it is demonstrating sociopathic behaviors. This person will hurt or kill the family pet in order to psychologically torment family members or force them into submission, sex, or silence them about other forms of abuse. In addition, studies have shown that children who abuse animals are more likely to be violent later in life (Children and Animal Cruelty: What Parents Should Know).

In 2007, there were 10,805 reported cases of animal abuse in the United States.
Source: Pet-Abuse.Com and the AARDAS project

Click the graphic on the left to see the statistics on classifications of abuse in the U.S.

For more information, contact the Humane Society of the United States.

Read February's post about people who LOVE animals

If man is not to stifle his human feelings, he must practise kindness towards animals, for he who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals. - Immanuel Kant, German Philosopher

~Pamela Roller takes care of three old-lady cats and one young adult cat, two dogs in their prime, and a hamster named Boots who's from the local high school where she teaches English. She is the author of On Silent Wings, a gothic historical romance set in Restoration England. Visit her website at http://www.pamelaroller.com/.

©Pamela Roller

Naps are well worth the time, a good investment in one’s day. Sometimes if things are wrong when I lie down, they are somehow righted when I awake. Only if I were taking one now I would have to ignore the geese up in the barn squawking about whatever it is that geese squawk about, and several of the cows are bawling. I’ll call it lowing. That sounds more appealing. But they aren’t. They’re really carrying on about whatever it is that annoys the mess out of cows, to use my eldest daughter, Alison's, phrase. Not that I listen closely. I’ve never found cows had much to say that interested me. They tend to repeat themselves and are rather fixated on food. Not unlike some people, or Mia, the funny-looking dog we rescued from the animal shelter.

Mia watches us intently for the slightest indication that food may be involved in whatever we’re doing. If she's asleep in the next room, she will poke her head into the kitchen when she hears the rustle of crackers or the ping of a toaster. Someone (me) shares their crusts with her and tosses her the odd cracker. My youngest daughter, Elise, is also guilty. And we discovered Alison feeding Mia entire sandwiches until we pointed out that the vet had urged us to put her on a diet. Mia is short but rather wide, portly even. So Alison cut back on her tithes.

Mia feels entitled to a portion of the take, though. She insists snacks were included in the contract we signed with the SPCA and that she will file a complaint with her benefactors if we default. She'd been in residence at the shelter for over a month when we adopted her and was partial to junk food. Several of the volunteers took a real liking to her and fed her cheese puffs and the corners of candy bars. A vet’s dream diet for dogs. They felt sorry for her because she'd been found abandoned in a derelict house and was so traumatized they thought she was mute. That, and her being half African basenji. She never even woofed. They said she might yodel. Basenjis do, but it seems Mia is unaware of this hidden talent.

I’d be rather surprised to discover her yodeling and playing the accordion. Either one. But she’s given up her vow of silence and sounds the inside alarm whenever the outside dogs go off at the slightest provocation...which brings me back to disturbances during naps.

©2007 Beth Trissel