What should be done to people who are cruel to animals?

It is an unfortunate fact of life that there are people in this world who are so mean to humans and animals alike that the word ‘evil’ is the only word that best describes their conduct. There are three kinds of animal victims of such cruelty; pets, farm animals and wild animals. This article deals with cruelty to pets. I must warn you that some of what follows is graphic and most disturbing but putting it in this piece is necessary to get the point across, the point being that such animal abusers should be severely punished.
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All of us, who have pets and love them, appreciate having them because they are our friends. They often greet us when we return home from work; they cuddle up to us when they want affection, and they are companions to lonely people who have not been blessed with having a spouse or children or whose spouse is deceased or their children are no longer living at home.

Pets, be they dogs, cats or even birds, have feelings of love, fear and of course, pain. That is why we who own pets, must be mindful of our pet’s feelings. Unfortunately, there are people in this world who couldn’t care less about pets, be they their own or their neighbour’s or those of their friends.

I will deal with two forms of cruelty to animals in this piece. They are, neglect and torture.

Neglect

A Brampton, Ontario woman was found guilty of animal cruelty after her emaciated, maggot-infested cat had to be euthanized by Brampton Animal Control. Laura Avery was convicted in the Ontario Court of Justice on February 6, 2007 of failing to provide suitable and adequate care to her cat. The charge was a criminal code offence. Avery was banned from owning animals for two years, and was also sentenced to 12 months probation and 45 hours of community service. City employees described the cat as having several large open wounds on the bottom of its jaw and chin, which were infested with maggots. Maggots were on the cat's front paws and in its mouth. It also had fly larvae in its jaw and neck.

In 2006, the Toronto Humane Society seized a German shepherd that had been allowed to waste away to 40 pounds, less than half his weight. The dog had to be put down instantly, that's how bad it was.

In Kingston, New Hampshire, six kittens were abandoned in a home where the heat was shut off and it was only 10 degrees inside. According to police, the kittens were left for at least two weeks. The kittens were found by a cleaning crew on February 6, 2007 that was coming to the home to prepare it for sale. The owners left no food or water for the kittens. They put anti-freeze into the toilet bowls so the porcelain bowls didn't break from the cold temperatures. The kittens resorted to drinking the anti-freeze and eating Styrofoam cups and beads from a necklace.

Many years ago, a family in Toronto moved from their apartment and left their pet dog behind in the apartment. The dog was later found dead from starvation. It had eaten its paws in an attempt to survive. The man who owned the dog was hunted down by the police and later sentenced to six months in jail. As recently as February 2007, a one and a half year old puppy was tied to the railing of a stairwell in an apartment building in Ottawa, Ontario and left to die. Before its body was found, didn't anyone in the building who heard the puppy's whimpering try to find out what was wrong with the dog?

Some pet owners are simply just outright stupid. In Edmonton, Alberta, a 22-year-old Edmonton woman was fined $100 for home neutering her cat. She admitted she'd made an incision on her male cat Tigger and pulled his testicles out while he was fully conscious. A spokeswoman for the Edmonton SPCA said it is suspected the woman might have taken the action to save money. Special constable Beth MacEachern said the woman had prior experience with the procedure from working at a pig farm. The judge at her trial said that she could have her cat back.

At the PetSmart store in Manchester, Connecticut, a location that PetSmart boasts of as having an "exceptional pet care record," an undercover investigation documented more than 100 animals—including hamsters, domestic rats, lizards, chinchillas, and birds—who lay hopelessly, just waiting to die, in the store's "sick room," deprived of desperately needed veterinary care and wasting away out of customers' sight.

Daniel Haskett, 19, and a teen who cannot be named under the Young Offenders Act because he was 17 at the time, were charged with injuring or endangering his pet, and causing unnecessary suffering to it. A vet euthanized the animal after it was found barely alive and abandoned in a ditch.

People who are responsible for caring for an animal, whether they own it or not can be charged with simple cruelty to an animal if they do not provide it with proper food, water and shelter. Pet owners also have a responsibility to provide their pets with appropriate medical care. Failing to seek veterinary attention for an ill pet, can lead to criminal charges and a conviction.
The people responsible for the suffering of animals through their neglect should in my opinion be sent to jail so that the message will get across to others of their ilk that there are consequences attached to this kind of behavior.

Torture

An American, Justin Babineau was recently charged with killing his girl-friend’s dog. He and his girlfriend had a verbal argument so she went to the movies to cool off. Babineaux called his girlfriend during the movie and told her that she needed to come home and check on her puppy. When the girl arrived, the dog was in severe physical distress and vomited blood on the way to the emergency room. He had beaten the dog. The puppy was pronounced dead at the hospital. At the time of this writing, Babineaux, is facing 1 to 5 years on felony cruelty to animals.

In Brantford, Ontario, a man who beat a kitten to death because it scratched him and then ordered his son to clean up the remains, was sentenced to 45 days in jail. Edwin Edgcumbe 34 pleaded guilty to killing an animal by grabbing the kitten and throwing it against a wall ---- twice. When the kitten tried to climb to its feet and began walking in circles, Edgcumbe pummeled it to death with his hands. Edgcumbe then told his horrified son to clean up the blood and dispose of the kitten's body in a nearby canal. The boy fled with his friend and called police.

In San Jose, California, Andrew Burnett, 27, tossed a fluffy little dog to its death in a bout of road rage in 2006 by throwing the dog into oncoming traffic. He was convicted of animal cruelty and given the maximum sentence of three years behind bars. The courtroom erupted in applause after he was sentenced.

A Thornhill, Ontario man was fined just $750 for an incident very similar to that previous case. After the poodle defecated on his lawn in May 1999, the man angrily scooped up the small dog and hurled him at the pavement, leaving him with permanent injuries.

There have been many people brought to trial who were charged with tying their pets to the back of their vehicles and dragging them to death.

The worst case of cruelty to animals that I know of took place in Toronto, Ontario. I should warn my readers in advance that this part of this article is gruesome and it will haunt you for years, as it has haunted me but it is necessary to publish it because it, more than any other incident brings home to my readers that long-term imprisonment is the appropriate way to deal with such offenders.

Jessie Champlain Powers, 23, and Anthony Ryan Wennekers, 26, in Toronto, Ontario in May 2001, skinned a cat while it was still alive and after it was skinned, they continued torturing the cat. All the time they were doing this, a third man was videotaping the incident. Officials watching the video were moved to tears as they watched the helpless creature appearing to be struggling for its life, moving its front paws like it was trying to defend itself and listening the animal, making noises such as meowing and making a gurgling sound deep in its throat. One of the officials who had to watch the video said he could only watch the tape once and said he found himself hoping the cat would die quickly so it wouldn't have to go through any more pain. These two creeps later decapitated the cat and hung its body draped over a coat hanger in a fridge. Why were these three human monsters doing this to this poor creature? Apparently, Powers was a student at the Ontario College of Art and he wanted to make a video for art’s sake. When an Ontario judge on May 28, 2002 sentenced Jesse Champlain Powers to only 99 days in jail to be served on weekends for his role in torturing the cat, the public was outraged. The prosecutor decided not to appeal the sentence of Anthony Wennekers, 25, who was in custody waiting for his trial was sentenced to 10 1/2 months in jail, and was released immediately based on time served. These two men should have received the maximum of six-month penalty in prison for what they did to that pitiful creature.

I am sorry if you read the above paragraph and it haunts you but as I said earlier, it drives home the message that our laws have to be much more stricter sentences when considering what these two monsters did to the cat. For example, two boys in California who tortured a lamb with screwdrivers spent eight years in prison for that deed. I don’t recommend sentences that severe but the six months maximum in Canada is not sufficient in my opinion. People who are cruel to animals could find themselves doing time in Virginia. Under a bill moving through the legislature, Virginians convicted of animal cruelty twice in five years could face one to five years in prison. That's if one of the violations results in the death of an animal.

In February 2007, two teenagers, David Ironmonger and NathanBeagan, both 18, were arrested in Owen Sound, Ontario for slipping into the Harrison Park's bird sancuary one night and beating two swans to death.

The members of the Canadian parliament have been sitting on their butts far too long on this issue. For years, they have ignored private member’s bills that was to bring more severity in sentencing human monsters who are cruel to animals. What follows is the recent bill before parliament.

Definition of "animal"
182.1 In this Part, "animal" means a vertebrate, other than a human being, and any other animal that has the capacity to feel pain.
Killing or harming animals
182.2 (1) Every one commits an offence who, wilfully or recklessly,
(a) causes or, being the owner, permits to be caused unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal;(b) kills an animal or, being the owner, permits an animal to be killed, brutally or viciously, regardless of whether the animal dies immediately;(c) kills an animal without lawful excuse;(d) without lawful excuse, poisons an animal, places poison in such a position that it may easily be consumed by an animal, administers an injurious drug or substance to an animal or, being the owner, permits anyone to do any of those things;(e) in any manner encourages, promotes, arranges, assists at or receives money for the fighting or baiting of animals, including training an animal to fight another animal;(f) builds, makes, maintains, keeps or allows to be build, made, maintained or kept a cockpit or any other arena for the fighting of animals on premises that he or she owns or occupies;(g) promotes, arranges, conducts, assists in, receives money for or takes part in any meeting, competition, exhibition, pastime, practice, display or event at or in the course of which captive animals are liberated by hand, trap, contrivance or any other means for the purpose of being shot at the moment they are liberated; or(h) being the owner, occupier or person in charge of any premises, permits the premises or any part of the premises to be used in the course of an activity referred to in paragraph (e) or (g).
Punishment
(2) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of
(a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years; or(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction and liable to imprison- ment for a term of not more than eighteen months.
Failing to provide adequate care
182.3 (1) Every one commits an offence who
(a) negligently causes unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to an animal;(b) being the owner, or the person having the custody or control of an animal, abandons it or fails to provide suitable and adequate food, water, air, shelter and care for it; or(c) negligently injures and animal white it is being conveyed.
Definition of "negligently"
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a) and (c), "negligently" means departing markedly from the standard of care that a reasonable person would use.
Punishment
(3) Every one who commits an offence under subsection (1) is guilty of
(a) an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than two years; or(b) an offence punishable on summary conviction.

There is a clear link between animal cruelty and other forms of violence. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has long shown the link between early animal cruelty and future aggression. Clifford Olson convicted of murdering ten children and Jeffrey Dahmer, the cannibal who murdered a number of his victims, tortured animals, Marc Lepine who murdered nine women in a school, slaughtered pigeons. Paul Bernardo who raped many women and murdered two of them, reportedly ate his pet lizard. There is a long list of other killers who committed atrocities to animals before turning their attention to humans.

One way to stop this abuse against pets is to teach children that pets play an important role in the lives of humans. If at all possible, children should have a pet so that they can learn responsibility, love and devotion to a creature that is not human. If that lesson can be taught to a child, there is probably little likelihood that the child will ever abuse a pet or a wild animal.