Sadly, animal abuse is something that will always exist--especially since there aren't enough laws in place to protect animals and stiff enough penalties for animal abusers. Thanks to the Internet, however, people throughout the world are being made more aware of abusive practices toward animals and individual cases of animal abuse than ever before--and there are various ways you can do your part to help save animals. Here are some of the main ones.
Instructions
1. Report any instances of animal cruelty or neglect that you may witness. Neglect includes dogs that are constantly chained up or left alone in a yard or cats that are pretty much left to fend for themselves.
2. Report stray or injured animals to your local animal shelter. If possible, pick up the animal yourself and call around to see if a rescue or no-kill shelter might have room before turning the pet in to a city shelter. There are alternatives to city shelters including boarding facilities that will charge lower rates for rescued pets until homes are found for them and people who foster pets. See article on stray animal rescue (bottom link in Resources below).
3. Adopt pets from shelters and rescues before buying from a breeder, and never purchase a dog or cat from a pet store. There are two great websites for finding your dream pet: Petfinder.com and Adopt a Pet.com. Both list thousands of dogs, cats, rabbits and more up for adoption throughout North America. Just put in your zip code and what type of pet you're looking for--it's that easy.
4. Spay or neuter your pet. This is first and foremost for controlling pet overpopulation.
5. Avoid purchasing products that were tested on animals and don't donate to organizations that do unnecessary animal testing (see Resources below).
6. Don't support the fur industry, reduce the amount of leather you use and refuse to buy products made from real ivory.
7. Don't engage in or support hunting for sport.
8. Don't attend circuses or rodeos that abuse their animals. Attend circuses that don't use live animals at all.
9. Limit or eliminate your consumption of meat, and when purchasing meat opt for free range and organic. Don't eat veal or foie gras; both are obtained by extremely cruel methods.
10. Purchase cage-free eggs and organic dairy products, at least the animals are spared much of the cruelty that other factory farmed animals have to endure. And if you've done your research and are ready to make the commitment, switch to a vegan diet, which is good for your health, animals and the environment.
11. Donate food, supplies, money and your time and support to local shelters/rescues and national or world animal protection organizations; encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same (see Resources below).
12. Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper about pet overpopulation and unwanted, abused and neglected animals. Bring their attention to local pet stores that sell dogs (the overwhelming majority are from puppy mills).
13. Contact your elected representatives and urge them to sponsor stronger laws to protect animals from cruelty (including those on factory farms and those that are hunted) and to increase punishment for animal abusers.
14. Share your love for animals and properly care for them with children and enlighten adults about abusive practices that we are generally kept in the dark about, so that one day it will be a kinder world for animals.
15. Help animals by clicking daily on websites such as The Animal Rescue Site, Care 2's Race for Pets in Need, Care 2's Race to Save Baby Seals, Free Kibble and Free KibbleKat. It's absolutely free! You can also search the Web and help rescue pets at the same time by using Dogpile (see Resources below).
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