Working Hypothesis: Animal Abuse appears to be more common in dysfunctional homes where people are uneducated in the area of caring for animals properly.

5 Sources plus Purposeful Summaries:

Nelson, D. (2011, October 31). The Cruelest Show on Earth. Retrieved from https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2011/10/ringling-bros-elephant-abuse/

It seems counterintuitive that circus’ would treat their show animals with cruelty, however it is more common than people think. These animals are constantly chained up and are not taken care of when they are ill. They are even shocked and whipped constantly. They are even put on 3 day train rides without any breaks.

For example, an elephant named Kenny was a show animal in “The Greatest Show on Earth” put on by the Ringling Bros. but unfortunately one day he had fallen sick. He had stomach problems after the morning show and after the afternoon show, he began bleeding from his bottom. He also started to struggle to even stand up. Under law, animals are supposed to get medical attention and a veterinarian’s approval before performing again. After looking at Kenny, the Vet said that he was not able to perform the evening show and prescribed him antibiotics. Unfortunately, they made Kenny perform anyway but he couldn’t do any stunts because he was too weak. After the show, they gave him some fluids and put him in his stall. Hours later, they sadly found his body in his stall. The U.S. Department of Agriculture charged Feld Entertainment with 2 violations for making Kenny perform when he was sick and could barely stand.

This was just one of many examples of how elephants are mistreated. There are tons of videos showing them being shocked and whipped. It takes a lot for the USDA to do something about it. Even that isn’t much by just fining them tons of money.

Denham, B. E. (2014). Intermedia attribute agenda setting in the new york times: The case of animal abuse in U.S. horse racing. Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 91(1), 17-37. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.rowan.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.rowan.edu/docview/1515694974?accountid=13605

It seems counterintuitive that people in horse racing would treat the horses extremely poor however it happens more than people think. The horses are whipped constantly whipped and treated with disrespect. For example, in 2012, the New York times published a lot of investigative reports, news articles and editorials addressing the problems with U.S. horse racing. Deceased and injured horses, equine drug use and the way trainers handled the horses was all written about by the times. Other news stories caught on to this topic as well. They treat their animals that make them lots of money like they’re nothing.

Mcphedran, S. (2009). Animal abuse, family violence, and child wellbeing: A review. Journal of Family Violence, 24(1), 41-52. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.rowan.edu/10.1007/s10896-008-9206-3

Family violence and Animal abuse tend to exist in the same household more often than people think. A poor childhood can result in bad parenting and bad care of pets. This leads to animal abuse which causes injured pets and maybe even deceased. Pets are often thought as other family members so if family violence is present within the house then you can assume that animal abuse should be present as well. As stated within the article, Animals can become victims within a troubled household because some people think of them as property.

Reporting cases of animal abuse. (2019). The Veterinary Record, 185(17), 524. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.rowan.edu/10.1136/vr.l6294

It is counterintuitive that Vet’s wouldn’t report all suspected cases of animal abuse, however they don’t report it as much as people think. It’s not proven but it is strongly suspected by these vets from the owners. For example, in a study, they found that a third of vet’s have had at least one case of suspected animal abuse in the past year but only half of them reported it. Vet’s only receive two hours of training on this topic which really isn’t enough. This is an important part of caring for animals. The vet’s are only making their job a lot harder and causing more pain for the animal if in fact it is being abused.

Laurent Bègue. (2020) Explaining Animal Abuse Among Adolescents: The Role of Speciesism. Journal of Interpersonal Violence 36, pages 088626052095964. https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.rowan.edu/doi/full/10.1080/01639625.2019.1595373?scroll=top&needAccess=true

Animal Abuse can be caused to a variety of different things. Social scientists have tied it to interpersonal violence, illegal gun possession, substance use, and anti social behaviors as well. The FBI did a study to gather more data about animal abuse and the big broad topic that was picked was “other” for reasons why they chose to abuse the animal. It shows that people still really don’t know much about this topic and why it happens. All the topics listed previously however, are some of the main reasons.

Current State of Research: I actually found my first article within the purposeful summary assignment. When I read the article about elephant abuse, it helped me decide that I wanted to write my paper about some form of animal abuse and what causes it and why it happens. This is the first time I have really gotten into my research though. All these articles I have found I believe can help convey my hypothesis throughout my research process.