Sociology of Dogs – Victimization

by Attila Márton

“VICTIMIZATION: ANIMAL CRUELTY AND ABUSE IS A COMMON ISSUE EVEN IN THOSE SOCIETIES WHERE ANIMALS ARE RESPECTED AND TREATED LIKE THE BELOVED COMPANIONS THEY ARE. HOWEVER WE OFTEN HEAR IN THE NEWS ABOUT ANIMALS BEING BEATEN, TORTURED AND EVEN MURDERED. THE LUCKY ONES WHO GET HELP MAY HAVE THE CHANCE TO RECOVER PHYSICALLY AND MEN- TALLY, OTHERS ARE NOT SO LUCKY. AND WITH EACH NEW CASE WE ASK OURSELVES: WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE HEARTLESS PEOPLE, HOW CAN THEY COMMIT SUCH CRUEL ACTS?”

The Wounded

You rarely know what happened to an abused animal when you come face to face with one. You can only see the outward symp- toms and can make a rough guess at the history, but you will never know exactly what led to this terrible result. In most cases the per- petrator remains unknown.

To define animal abuse is relatively simple. It is a violent act that harms the health of an animal either temporarily or permanently, and in extreme cases it leads to the death of the victim.

Reducing the commission of acts of cruelty against animals has been a hot issue for many animal welfare organizations. The best known tactic is to fight for stricter legislation and judicial verdicts. If someone commits a crime of this sort, they should be brought to justice for their deeds.

But the question here is whether any punishment can solve or fix a problem like this? Does it benefit an abused dog if the abuser is charged with committing a criminal act?

I very much doubt it, but the guilty must be punished. Without question, what society accepts or rejects needs to be an ethical po- sition as well as a legislative consequence. Verdicts are important but will not save animals from suffering. There are so many things forbidden by the law, yet they happen all the time.

When one wants to move the focus point from dealing with an- imal abuse that has already taken place to the prevention of acts of cruelty being committed in the future, one comes up against the complexity of behavior that makes a person evil enough to beat, tie and leave animals at a tree in extremely bad condition, or even to deliberately kill them.

Human Rage

We all have those dark, difficult days when struggling through seems to take an eternity, and we’re stuck in our most desperate moods. Just imagine a day when you get bullied and humiliated with no chance to deal with the situation at the time. Or when you had to face injustice without the chance to fight back because you were afraid of facing serious consequences. What would you do after such a rough day to ease the frustration consuming you?

Some people might call and arrange to meet up with their best friend to talk about everything in depth. They might open a bot- tle of wine and drink one glass or even the whole bottle. But others go home and turn their whirling rage, their need for re- venge, into action using violence against someone or something to ease their sense of injustice, their frustration, just to achieve some mental relief.

Scientists have conducted numerous experiments to find the an- swer to the question of the origin of the evil side of human nature, including aggressive and violent tendencies. Are we born this way? Or is it our environment or our upbringing that makes us this way? Can we find somewhere a triggering factor to turn our globe into a better and more peaceful place, and reduce all the different kinds of violent acts committed? The quest for this highly anticipated clue is still on, and we still can’t determine the exact nature of human brutality.

Short URL: https://caninechronicle.com/?p=126745

Posted by Alex on Jun 27 2017. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.