I choose this because animals have always been near and dear to my heart.  All of the animals I have were rescued in some form or another.  I found five kittens with their mother in a hole in the ground in my backyard.  The kittens were all around two weeks old, and not long after my friend found four kittens abandoned near her house around the same age. They were without food, water, or shelter, they weren't even weaned off of their mother's milk yet. So I had to bottle feed them and in total I had nine kittens and one cat at my Father's house.  That happened a couple years ago, all the kittens grew up to be healthy affectionate cats, although two we gave to friends, a couple were sadly lost and we still have the rest as well as one dog.   At my Mother's house we have two cats; one is an elderly male cat we picked out from a litter in our neighborhood.  The other my cousin found in the street as a kitten, nearly starved to death.  So I have always taken in animals in need and my heart aches when I hear about animals that have been abused.  If there is anyone who does not think that animal abuse is a problem or that because it is illegal to abuse animals that it does not happen, they are very sadly mistaken.  Some may even say that abuse is not that bad in America or that animals are not affected as we are, when we ourselves are in fact animals. 

One example of the affects of animal abuse was the scientific study done on the behaviors of abused canines.  The article was called "Behavioral and Psychological Characteristics of Canine Victims of Abuse" by Franklin D. McMillan, Deborah L. Duffy, Stephen L. Zawistowski and James A. Serpell.  The reason behind this research was to prove that canines are deeply affected mentally by abuse.  In order to do this, they showed a list of sixty-nine dogs who had been abused and compared their behavior to some average dogs.  The abused dogs showed great fear in common interactions such as being petted or reprimanded while the control dogs showed more fear in an umbrella or being brushed (Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science.)  Considering that all of these authors are veterinarians as well as scientists, this article is very credible although probably biased in favor of the dogs.  Another study is mentioned in this and it says that dogs that were suspected to have been abused had behaviors such as "fear of care giver," "dull demeanor," and "depressed."  (Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science.)  It is a fact, just as any, that dogs can be depressed.  Which is why we must prevent animal cruelty both in the domestic and in other forms.

In a more specific example of animal cruelty there is Greyhound Racing in an article by the ASPCA.  Now, dogs running in a circle chasing a mechanical rabbit, what could be wrong with that?  Aside from the obvious injuries, like broken legs and fractured skulls (ASPCA), there are the owners of the dogs who only want to make fast cash.  These owners only care that the dogs are fast.  One might think that in order to make a dog fast they should give it healthy meals, of course regular visits to the Vet, or at the very least decent living conditions. However, research by the ASPCA shows that 27 cases of racing dogs had none of these and 16 even tested positive for cocaine. These might seem like small numbers considering there are millions of people with millions of dogs, but there are only twenty dog tracks in the US.  In addition to that the ASPCA shows that 11,722 dogs had been severely injured and 909 dogs had been killed for either not being fast enough or competitive enough.  The average Greyhound lives to be around thirteen but many of these dogs rarely make it to 18 months before being retired.  Now, this of course was written by the ASPCA a credible and well respected society but most likely also very biased, the numbers shown above are an annual numbers. Though they are large numbers, the number of dogs in the country is some where in the millions if not billions making these dogs a rather small percentage. However, this is just one of the many instances of animal cruelty.

Another instance, most likely a more well known one, would be the animal or "Puppy Mills."   The unsympathetic people may say that they are only dog breeders; dogs breed on their own anyway.  However, these dogs are bred incessantly and incestuously, again so that the owners may profit more easily.  One eye witness account was written in an article called "Puppy Mills in Iowa," by Mary LaHay, where an average woman is looking for a puppy and comes across what she later realized was a puppy mill.  She described the puppies shown to her as "They were adorable, roly-poly bundles of fur, but that fur was filthy. They reeked of the same urine stench [as the rest of the complex]" (LaHay 1).  The author shows that because she is an average woman she can give a more unbiased account of the puppy mills, having not known what they were previously.  She shows that she is credible and has values based on her actions in Iowa to stop puppy mills in and around her town.

I did in fact revise my question as it wasn't a question before it was simply "Animal Cruelty."  So the question isn't so much 'is animal cruelty bad' because everyone pretty much knows that it's bad.  Then question was more or less 'how or why is it still a problem?' considering everyone knows that it's bad.  Now, however, I realize that it really isn't any of those that are the real issue, the real issue is that we have it but it isn't obvious on how to stop it.  I also write about slaughter houses and the like.  All of this reinforces my views on it as well as opens my eyes on a few key matters, like how fast food is disgusting, and definitely makes me want to volunteer at a local shelter.  This research has provided evidence for my claim and there are very few that disagree with it however I was able to find one.  
