Running head: 1

Abuse of Man’s Best Friend: A Literature Review

Sofia A. Marquez

Patrick Moran

Juan De Santiago

Natalie Rangel

University of Texas at El Paso

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Every second of everyday animal abuse is taking place all across the world and yet it

seems as if nothing is being done about it. No matter where it is taking place or how it is

happening it is not acceptable to treat animals as if they are not living breathing things that don't

have feelings as well. Society tries to avoid animal cruelty as much as possible because it is seen

as being acceptable, but not matter how much people try to avoid it something must be done to

take action and stop animal cruelty.

The abuse that persists in the homes of pet owners, specifically dogs, continues to be a

growing problem not just in the community of El Paso, Texas, but in a worldwide context. Pet

owners who choose to mistreat their loyal furry friends don’t realize the amount of harm they are

doing to these animals. In terms of amount of abuse, the Pitbull breed is the most abused and

neglected dog among all other breeds. The probable cause of this situation is that most animals

are commonly perceived as the weak, fragile kind. Therefore, the owners feel a need to harm the

animals that can’t possibly defend themselves. As a result, experts have been trying to prove that

dogs, as well as other domestic animals are not being cared for at all, thus it is the owner who

ignites the spark of violence into the animal.

It is common knowledge that animal cruelty is the act of neglecting or abusing an

animal, either by harming them or by not taking care of them responsibly. For example, not

giving pets food or water can be abuse and having them tied up for long periods of time without

paying attention to them is neglect. The picture presented on the left provided by the American

Pitbull Association is for the public to know the beauty that can come from a neglected animal,

with the appropriate treatments and rehabilitation procedures. Not only is animal cruelty morally

considered wrong, but it is also against the law and different states have different laws and

punishments. This organization also advocates for all animals, not just creates punishments for
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these actions. In Texas, there are

civil and criminal laws that

protect animals from abuse, these

laws are very alike but they have

different punishments that they

enforce. If the case is a civil case,

then a judge must decide if the

person has been cruel to the

animal; if they have the animal

The image above shows a Pitbull looking
out into the distance while looking very
majestic and beautiful then they can be taken away as

well as making the owner pay restitution. These civil laws pertain to wild animals as well as

domestic animals, but they have a narrower definition of what cruelty is. On the other hand, if

someone is prosecuted on a criminal case, the punishment could result in fines, jail, or both if the

person is under 18 then they have to undergo counseling. Unlike civil cases, these laws only

apply to domestic animals such as dogs, cats, etc. And now more than ever, associations are

rising above the amount of abuse that grows in our country every day.

According to the association of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals),

“every day in countries around the world, animals are fighting for their lives. They are enslaved,

beaten, and kept in chains to make them perform for humans’ ‘entertainment’” (Peta, 2018). The

people who are part of this animal advocate group want a world where humans avoid using

animals for their own entertainment and science experiments. For example, they have convinced

the Burlington Coat Factory to “ban angora, which often comes from rabbits who spend their

entire lives inside cramped, filthy cages without access to food and clean water and who scream
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in pain while their fur is being plucked out” (Peta, 2018). Their accomplishments only strive

them to continue on their fight to eliminate animal abuse, initially by inducing methods to

control it.

Although most animal abuse cases are not made for the public to view, the Humane

Society of the United States has recognized that in 2011, about a thousand four hundred cases of

animal abuse were reported, and 70 percent was directed towards dogs (Humane Society of the

United States, 2018). Of course, some sources manipulate the statistics for their own benefit, so

it can not really be factual unless the government released the information. For example,

organizations who support animal abuse in order to support their own industries such as the food

industry, may have a different look as to what the statistics are in order to place the odds in their

favor.

Whenever there is a case of animal cruelty, people can contact the authorities but there is

always an organization that dedicates themselves to saving and helping animals from these types

of conditions. For example, the ASPCA, is a national organization that helps out in animal

cruelty cases when local authorities request them, since they are the specialists in the area. This

organization helps with the rescue, transport of animals to safer places, investigations, forensic

evidence collection and processing, providing legal services, sheltering and nurturing animals,

and taking them to a local shelter where they are ready for adoption. In 2017, the ASPCA

rescued or assisted 47,522 animals in need, while also filing more than 300 criminal charges

against abusers. So if anyone ever witnesses a case of animal abuse, they should contact their

local authorities or a animal cruelty organization so that they can put an end to any wrongdoing.

But of course, there are people who support animal abuse for the growth of their companies that

thrive on these actions.

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PETA has concluded that there can be as many animal rights advocates as there are

animal abusers. This organization has come to the conclusion that animals are to be cared for and

loved, not treated as a piece of garbage. The photograph provided by the PETA organization

indicates this idea specifically, by positioning a child next to a Pit Bull, and caressing her fur.

According to this organization, there are twelve top people who gain money from animal cruelty,

therefore it can be assumed that the CEO’s of

the companies are in favor of treating the

animals poorly for their personal benefit. “To

name the worst of the worst, we’ve looked at

the number of animals the companies killed,

the most painful and invasive experiments

The image shows a Pitbull being
held by a little boy to show that conducted, how far they lag behind industry
Pitbulls are not malicious dogs.
animal protection standards, their refusal to

use available non-animal test methods, and their appalling histories of federal Animal Welfare

Act (AWA) violations” (Peta, 2018). The list of company owners who continue to abuse animals

indicates the level of cruelty each ones uses. For example, at the top of the list is the CEO of

Covance, John Ratliff, who is part of an organization in which “monkeys have been housed in

such frigid conditions that they developed frostbite. A rabbit was scalded to death when the cage

in which she was housed was run through a cage washer—while she was still locked inside. One

dog who had a chronic food-restrictive device implanted in her body had lost 30 percent of her

body weight during a Covance study, but she was provided with no documented medical care for

her severe weight loss” (Peta, 2018). People like Ratliff don’t submit themselves to animal

cruelty, mainly because of the amount of money he is used to earning.

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Despite the negative stories that come with animal abuse, many success stories have

arisen since these organizations have tried to relieve the animals from suffering. An article

written by Elizabeth Queram describes the story of a 5 year-old Labrador who was rescued after

suffering in harsh conditions. The dog’s traumatic past has such hard to ingest details like when

Queram says that, “fortunately the flame went out before it burned down to her skin, so there are

no burns. It's just her fur," she said. "But she is emotionally traumatized.’” (Queram, 2017).

“When she got here she was cowering, head-shy, and walking close to the floor,’ said Dr. Janine

Oliver, who owns the animal hospital and is supervising Bella's treatment. ‘Now she'll respond to

sweet talk. She starts wagging her whole body when you talk to her. She's just the nicest dog,

and she's already come way, way out of her shell’”(Queram, 2017). Stories such as the one of

Bella the labrador generate the energy within the members of the animal rights advocates, to

continue working hard to achieve their ultimate goal; for every pet to own a voice.

A study conducted by the student of the University of Pennsylvania, and the members of

the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), indicated that dogs

who have had a history of violence in their homes demonstrated a higher fear of strangers than

dogs who did not have a history of abuse. “When compared with a convenience sample of 5,239

companion dogs, abused dogs were reported as displaying significantly higher rates of

aggression and fear directed toward unfamiliar humans and dogs, excitability, hyperactivity,

attachment and attention-seeking behaviors, persistent barking, and miscellaneous strange or

repetitive behaviors” (McMillan et al, 2015). Dogs who have gone through an aggressive past

with their owner not only learn to be scared of them, but of anyone who tries to interact with

them. Just like humans, animals have traumatic experiences that make their actions alter for the

rest of their lives. It’s hard to change the behavior of a dog who has experienced abuse before,
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mainly because fear is difficult to remove or modify. “Dogs who had been confiscated due to

maltreatment, as compared with dogs surrendered by their caregivers or found as strays, had a

much lower rate of adoption (38.5%) and a corresponding higher rate of euthanasia (61.5%).

Clearly, these dogs are in great need of methods to improve their chances for successful

adoption.” (McMillan et al, 2015). This study suggests that there is a correlation between the

amount of adoptions made, and the reasons the dogs were taken away to be placed in the

shelters. Abused dogs don’t get much adoptions compared to other dogs, therefore the population

of mistreated dogs can be predicted to grow due to lack of interest by the public. However,

people who live in El Paso, Texas, have acknowledged the problem and are working to fight it.

Within our own community animal abuse is also becoming an issue that needs to be

addressed. Within our group, I ,Natalie, have come to experience this issue in real life situations

almost all the time. I myself have done an internship at the El Paso Animal Emergency and

Veterinary Speciality Center, where I was able to work with different veterinary technicians and

alongside with Veterinary Doctor Pete Koplos. During my time doing my internship there, I have

experienced many cases where dogs were being brought into the clinic by people who had found

them in horrible neglected conditions. It broke my heart when I would see the conditions that

some of these animals where in. How can someone just mistreat an animal like that, as if it was

not a living breathing thing. One time while I was at the clinic shadowing Dr. Koplos, two vet

technicians brought in a pitbull dog that seemed to be in horrible conditions. When I saw the dog

he had cuts all over his body, looked like as if he had not eaten for days because you could see

the ribs, and his ears and tail were cut short and were covered with scars. Dr. Koplos knew

exactly what had happened here because he said “this was not the first dog he has seen in these

conditions”. He said “many people in El Paso like to cut the ears and tails short on a pitbull
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because it is a common thing in this area to fight pit bulls”, so it is more than likely that the dog

was being abused by forcing it to fight other dogs. So that explains the cuts on its body and the

cutting of its ears and tail so that when they put it to fight the other dogs don't have the chance to

bit or tear them”. He also said that,“the reason why the dog is so malnourished is probably

because that the owner is giving it the wrong food for its diet or the owner is starving the dog

whenever it does not win a fight” (El Paso Animal Emergency and Veterinary Specialty Center,

Dr. Koplos). So, experiencing this personally made me realize for a fact that animal abuse is

happening everywhere, and even within our own community the public are slowly becoming

aware about what exactly is going on.

In many situations people within the community witness animal abuse on the daily and want

to help the animal out but don't know how to do it where they don't get involved with the

authorities or get into any problems themselves with the owners of the animal. There are ways to

prevent animal abuse into furthering anymore then what it already is. Recently “The Animal

Cruelty Investigative Unit was started last month to deal with what police described as an

underreported crime in El Paso”(Borunda, D. (2017, December 25). The police department of El

Paso started a group of officers that will be dealing with specifically animal abuse cases. “Before

then, animal abuse allegations were handed to detectives dealing with other crimes at each of the

five police regional command centers”(Borunda, D. 2017,). Now this new group of dedicated

detectives has started there will start to be more focus on animal cruelty since there will be a

group dedicated to this line of work. “Since the unit began, each detective has had about eight to

10 cases. Several arrests on animal cruelty charges have been made and abused dogs have been

taken to safe homes”. Some common things that are seen within the community need to start

being addressed and taken to action. “"We have seen a lot of neglect cases, abandonment,"
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Roberts said. "People who dump off dogs or their pets that they don’t want anymore. Neglect

where they don’t provide them proper food, water, shelter. Beating their dogs, their animals,

their pets for no reason." And in a more recent case where a man just neglected his dog and

reported where is dog could be could so that the police could take care of it was brought onto the

group as an example as to what they experience on a daily basis. “In one case, a 15-year-old

boxer name Fergie was found barely alive and in such bad condition that she had to be

euthanized, police documents state”(Borunda, 2017).

“Fergie was bleeding, emaciated with visible ribs, spine and pelvic bones and had
rotting wounds with live maggots, a criminal complaint states”.

“The dog's owner, Christopher Royval, had called Animal Services to have the dog
picked up from a home in the 100 block of South Maryland Street in South-Central El
Paso.”

“The complaint states that Royval claimed Fergie got into that condition overnight, but
a veterinarian's assessment was that she "suffered an enormous amount of inhumane
neglect" for more than a week”.

And as always many people will see this type abuse taking place around their area and
yet do nothing about it. "It’s a very underreported crime," Vaughan said. "Neighbors sometimes
call, but sometimes many, many don’t”(Borunda, 2017). Detective Michael Vaughan is a
member of the El Paso’s Police Department’s new animal investigation cruelty unit. There are
now some ways in which residents can now call or text information to the police department.
People can either Call 311, the El Paso city non emergency line and Animal Services determines
the need for a police investigation, or anonymous tips, video and photos can be sent via text
message to TIP411.

It can now be inferred that the fight to keep or eliminate animal abuse continues, since

companies who mistreat animals need their jobs while animal rights advocates are trying their
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best to put a final stop to this crime.More people are leaning towards the emotional appeal of the

situation, since they feel empathetic towards all the innocent animals who are constantly harmed

every day they now are becoming more involved in the situation. However, CEOs who have

been running their companies, mainly in the food industry, are fighting back in order to preserve

what makes their business thrive, whatever it takes. It is of public concern to learn how the main

companies one buys their food and clothes from, because the methods behind creating the

burgers and fancy coats one wears may not be what any person would want to hear.

Overall we all know that animal abuse is a daily crime that we see everyday, and yet we

do and say nothing about it.No matter where you see it happening or who is doing you need to do

something to stop it because you know that these animals are helpless victims of a crime that you

could have prevented..As we know society tries to avoid animal abuse as much as possible

because it seen to be acceptable, but no matter how much people try to run away from it it will

continually come back, therefor something must be done to take action against animal cruelty.It

is our job to educate and inform the public about what is going on in their community and give

them ways in which they can help these animals out of the horrible situation that they are in.

People are becoming more aware about the situation and are willing to come together to help out

our furry best friends. If we all work together and try to stop animal cruelty we can accomplish

our goal in giving these animal a home with the caring and loving family that they deserve.
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References

APBF. (2017). The American Pit Bull Foundation. The Problem with People, Not Pit

Bulls. Retrieved from https://americanpitbullfoundation.com/problem-people-pit-bulls/

ASPCA. (2018). Animal rescue. Retrieved March 10, 2018 from

https://www.aspca.org/animal-rescue

Borunda, D. (2017, December 25). Members of new El Paso police Animal Cruelty

Investigative Unit seek to save pets. Retrieved March 12, 2018, from

https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/crime/2017/12/25/el-paso-police-animal-

cruelty-investigative-unit-start/977298001/

El Paso Animal Emergency and Veterinary Speciality Center, Dr. Koplos [Personal

interview]. (2016, November 9).

Home. (n.d.). Retrieved March 12, 2018, from http://www.vrcpitbull.com/

McMillan, F. D., Duffy, D. L., Zawistowski, S. L., & Serpell, J. A. (2015). Behavioral

and Psychological Characteristics of Canine Victims of Abuse. Journal Of Applied

Animal Welfare Science, 18(1), 92. doi:10.1080/10888705.2014.962230

PETA. (2018). People For the Ethical Treatment of Animals. The Most Abused Dogs on

Earth. Retrieved from https://www.peta.org/blog/abused-dogs-earth/

Queram, E. (2017, September 8). Dog 'emotionally traumatized' by abuse getting foster

home. News & Record (Greensboro, NC).

Scientific Dog Bite-Related Peer-Reviewed Studies. (2018). Retrieved from

https://www.pitbullinfo.org/scientific-studies.html

SPCA of Texas. (2018). Texas Animal Cruelty Laws. Retrieved March 10, 2018 from

https://www.spca.org/law
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