Animal Cruelty Month

The ASPCA has declared April to be Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month. The 2010 campaign is being called 'Go Orange for Animals' and the ASPCA is encouraging all animal lovers to help raise awareness of this cause across the country by living an 'orange life'.

Going Orange

Orange is not only the official color of the ASPCA; it is also seen as a vibrant and energetic color as well. Therefore it is the perfect color to help with the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month. The ASCPA has created a list of ideas as examples on how best to use the color orange and raise awareness for this campaign at the same time:

* Wear an orange colored T-shirt, pants, socks or shoes. The ASCPA has some great shirts available in their online store. Let your dog wear an orange bandana around his neck. Tie an orange ribbon in your hair, your pet's hair, or tie it onto your purse, front door or aerial of your car.

* Decorate your car by using special chalk to write animal friendly messages to encourage people to be aware of animal cruelty in your area.

* Throw an orange bake sale with orange colored, or flavored, cookies, scones and cakes. You can even hold the bake sale outside a local pet store or animal shelter. Remember to donate all, or some, of the proceeds to the ASCPA to help with their animal welfare efforts.

Animal Abuse Laws

The ASCPA is hoping that people will spend the month of April learning about animal cruelty, and educating themselves on the current animal cruelty laws in their State, as well as to hopefully support pending legislation that would make animal cruelty a felony.

In the USA, the District of Columbia and 33 other States have all passed laws that list intentional cruelty to an animal a felony charge. Kicking, hitting, chocking, deliberate starvation, any type of physical or mental abuse is considered to be intentional abuse.

Most States, however also cater for unintentional abuse. This when the person does not really know how to properly take care of their pet and their ignorance causes harm to the animal. This type of unintentional abuse is usually grounds for a misdemeanor charge.

Animal Abusers

Generally, there are 3 different types of animal abusers. The most common type is those people who unintentionally abuse animals. This is usually by way of not providing adequate shelter, food or water for their pet. Or they may be an animal hoarder, with too many pets that they can't take proper care of all of them. Education on proper pet care can help alleviate this type of abuse.

Intentional abusers, who hurt an animal on purpose but not over a long time period, are the next largest group of animal abusers. These are usually teenagers or people who have had a really bad day and take their feelings out on their pet. Oftentimes, these people are not thinking clearly and especially are not thinking about the animal's feelings, only their own selfish ones. Proper education can also help these people see the error of their ways and prevent animal abuse in the future.

The final type of person that abuses animals, are the worst as they enjoy inflicting pain on other living creatures. Typically these abusers would prefer to harm other people around them instead of an animal, but are usually too afraid of getting caught. So they hurt a poor defenseless animal instead. Over time, these abusers may build enough courage to hurt a child. These abusers must be stopped and brought to justice before they hurt any other animal or human.

What to do

If you witness animal abuse or believe there is an animal abuser in your neighborhood, contact your local ASPCA or humane shelter. Never confront the person directly as they may hurt you.

Photo Credit: .Jennifer Leigh.