April has been designated, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month and Sunday April 26th is "Help a Horse Day" . https://www.aspca.org/ Animal abuse is a critical issue world wide not only because we know animals feel intense pain and suffer great loss but because extensive research shows children who had a history of harming animals acted violently or intentionally injured other human beings as adults. In the US alone the percentage of children who abused or tortured animals then went on to commit a violent offense is 46%.
In the United States, we have finally established animal abuse as a serious major crime. Recently, a decision made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) means animal cruelty crimes will be classified within the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) - National Incident Based Reporting System http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr The action will advance how law enforcement officials investigate and prevent brutal crimes against defenseless animals. These cases will serve as early warnings, alerting the criminal justice system to individuals posing a future threat to our own communities. Animal abuse is now regarded as a crime against society which includes other offenses such as homicide, kidnapping and arson. Categories under the new animal classification are:
simple or gross neglect
intentional abuse and torture
organized abuse (i.e dog fighting)
and animal sexual abuse
All of these crimes will now be reported to the FBI UCR under the individual category just as someone were reporting or documenting a murder or human sexual assault.
As much as we love them, animals cannot speak for themselves and they cannot vote.
We are their only voice.
We represent them in the political process. Animal advocates can take the appropriate steps to lobby for pro-animal legislation by getting involved. City council members, state representatives, U.S. Senators, elected officials need to be reminded what their constituents think. They are supposed to be listening to and working for all of us. Make your voice heard by sending letters and e-mails to support pro-animal measures. Tweet, like a Facebook page, post a blog but get the word out---don't stand for animal abuse. Stand up for animals.
