top of page
Search

HOW CAN WE STOP ACTS OF ANIMAL ABUSE AND CRUELTY

Hello everyone! From the beautiful Asia country, Malaysia, Apa khabar semua? I am Nur Farzana or Nana as you guys may call me that nickname. I am the Media Director for Rawr.co. In this post, I will introduce and explain ways in joining our fight against the cruel acts to the animal kingdom. Sit back and happy reading, RAWRIES!


In fighting animal abuse and cruelty, there is no definite way to stop. In short, there are many ways to prevent these cruel acts to these poor animals. However, the addition of encouragement and involvement in a more significant number of people into the fight and ending the stigma against animal cruelty and abuse, abusers will eventually get exposed and held accountable for their crimes. Nonetheless, joining the act against animal cruelty with your wallet isn’t the only way to send a clear and direct message to the enemy.

Here are a few steps that YOU can follow to help stopping animal cruelty.

Recognize the Abuse To prevent any cases of animal abuse and cruelty, you will know what it does looks like. Most people know by instinctively that hitting a cat is considered an animal abuse act, that is just literal and crystal clear form. What about other subtler forms? Most people might not recognize these smaller acts. Reading articles such as this one and other related websites on the RAWR community page, watching awareness on YouTube videos, and getting involved with animal protection organizations such as the ASPCA and PETA can help you be exposed to the information and knowledge on the matter.

Understanding the Legislation and Justice Procedure Any form of evil intentioned acts on animals is considered and can be filed as a law case as there is a law for despicable treatment on animals in this era. A lot of people does not know the right law procedure in lodging reports of abusers and criminals to law enforcement. Understand this. A mishandled of information will always be the main factor of criminals succeeding in walking away from any punishment of acts befalling on them.

Report the Abuse Let me give you a similar scenario of animal cruelty but in a human context. Let’s say strangers were mistreating your family members. Would you intervene and defend them? Yes, you will. It is just the same common sense while witnessing an act of cruelty against an animal. You can stop these acts in future occurrence by reporting the abuse. Unfortunately, too many people standby the sidelines and afraid to speak up.

Reporting animal abuse can be emotionally charged. If the abuser is a friend, family member, or neighbour, for instance, you might worry about endangering the close relationship with them. The problem is that the abuse will continue unless you intervene. One way to ensure that you remain anonymous is to tell someone else about the animal abuse on behalf for your side and ask him/her to help in reporting it. Whether it's your beloved ones or biologically family member’s doing, they have no exception of being excerpted. Don’t be afraid to report them. Break the chain!

Education Education is one of the crucial roles in fighting against the act of cruelty towards animals and nature. Educate yourself with the knowledge in spreading awareness to everyone about the cruel truth of animals being abused in the extreme, especially to the younger generation/ YOUTH. As the saying goes, “Children are the pillar of the country.”, children are the future legacies of them become a “someone” of the world. In such of that, children are like we, the adult’s mirror in the future. They learn how to do something by observing the adults in their lives. One way to break the chain of animal cruelty is by teaching the children how to treat an animal with respect and kindness. Be a role model. Teach children what compassion is, what is kindness. We need to nip the act/intention of animal cruelty right in the bud early on.

Getting Involved Another great and fantastic way to help in preventing animal abuse is to join an animal rights group. These organizations systematically chip away at animal cruelty by spreading awareness, protesting inhumane treatment, and lobbying for better animal rights laws to the public. You can help by finding out if your local humane or animal services has a cruelty prevention program in short.

Volunteer You can be a helping hand in spreading awareness by volunteering in any animal protection program or events. Every person has their own unique skill set. How about using it on goodness? You can contribute your skills and help out on your local animal organizations. Ironically, animal protection groups are short in hand and fund to continue their non-profit service on saving animals. By volunteering, you are already helping them out a lot. There are a lot of volunteer services such as grooming and taking care of dogs in an animal shelter, foster a rescued animal in recovery. These are just the tip of the iceberg among volunteering. Plus, you can learn a lot of things and experience on how to treat animals if there are any emergency cases beforehand.

Take Action So what should you do when you saw an animal abuse incident? There are some critical steps on how you to take action on it:

1) Pick up your PHONE — If it’s an emergency situation, call 911. If it’s not, dial you local animal service or any humane organization as soon as possible. But do be noted, if the animal organization is not within your area or you don’t know/have the number, just call the police and report the following incident that you saw. Police and firefighters are also the alternative animal rescuers too! Report and relay what you have seen on the details on the incident and give a description of the criminal. Lastly, please leave your contact information as investigating officers need to ask your witness statement on the incident. Don’t be afraid. You can ask to remain anonymous if you are feeling scared. But do understand there is NOTHING wrong on trying to do the right thing. You are already one of the few who is helping in a lot, even just by reporting the incident. So be proud of yourself!

2) Confront the perpetrator if it’s a SAFE situation — If you think and felt that the situation is comfortable, speak to the person one-on-one but make sure that person doesn’t own any weapon fire or anything that can harm your safety in person. Besides that, you can ask your friends or family members to confront together as a safety precaution just in case. Everybody has their own opinion and ways on this matter, but the best way is to wait for law enforcement in engaging the perpetrator.

3) Document the DETAILS of the incident — One thing to be noted in filing a legal report on animal abuse cases, the evidence is needed to convict the perpetrator. Snap some pictures or record a video of the incident if it’s a safe situation for you to do it. As the saying goes, “ A picture is worth of a thousand words” Those pictures and videos can really make a difference between an abuser getting convicted or freedom of its action in prosecution. A police officer even commenting that “Taking pictures and video absolutely helps” Some even said that “ With those cruelty cases that have photos incorporated, its makes the situation even worse for the judge to convict ‘not guilty’ to the perpetrator.”

4) Be PERSISTENT and follow-up to date — Bear in mind that most law enforcement agencies and emergency rescuers are limited personnel and resources in responding to EVERY single reported case they have received. If they are unresponsive, dial back the number and request to speak with a supervisor. But nonetheless, try contacting your local area news station if you are still not getting any response after numerous calls. Publicity can be your WEAPON in encouraging law enforcement to take action and pay attention!

5) Be prepared to TESTIFY —So what happens next after an animal control officer has gone to the property to check on the incident? As someone who is a witness to the situation, typically an officer will investigate and process your complaint if there is any violation of any cruelty laws. However, if there is, the officer will speak with the owner beforehand, giving a warning through citation and chances for that person to repent. BUT if the abuse or neglect is extreme, animal control/animal rights group will come and take the dog to a county shelter/humane agency for protection. Besides that, the animal will receive the first aid treatment and care for its wounds immediately. The case will then be presented to the local prosecutor’s office for further evaluation and possible owner prosecution. Be prepared that you may be asked to testify about what you witnessed. Since dogs can’t speak for themselves, human witnesses are crucial for building strong, prosecutable cruelty cases, so if at all possible, please be willing and able to do YOUR part.


Here are HOTLINES in Malaysia to dial on


These are all the DVS numbers to contact in Malaysia in case of an emergency or to report an abuse.

Animals have no voice, so it is our obligation and duty to speak for them, especially when they’re being mistreated. So, SPEAK UP, and DON’T be a bystander! You are what your actions are. Create your own statement of righteous, RAWRIES!

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page