In the month of December, President Donald Trump signed the bipartisan bill to make animal cruelty a federal crime that fines and can imprison someone for up to seven years. The bill expands the 2010 law banning animals being crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled or being subjected to any form of torture. Below are some common forms of animal cruelty.

Animal Hoarding

 Animal hoarding is a common form of unintentional animal abuse, this is when an owner owns more animals than they can properly care for. This often leads to unsocial animals, diseases among the animals, and death due to inadequate food or vet care. 250,000 cats and dogs along with other companion animals fall victim to animal hoarding annually. People who hoard animals are often not criminally inclined but instead emotionally distressed. Signs of an animal hoarder include but are not limited to: an obvious abnormal quantity of animals living in one house, strong ammonia smell, feces not being cleaned up, as well as a messy household. 

Puppy Mills

Puppy Mills in some cases may be a violent environment. Puppy mills are large scale breeding operations that often favor profit over health. Mother dogs are bred every heat cycle, to produce as many puppies as possible. The mother dogs often are abandoned or killed when they can no longer reproduce. Puppies tend to be taken away from mothers too early for the mother to bred again. Dogs including the puppies are found in cold, rusty cages. The puppies not sold end up being used for more breeding. These dogs may not receive enough food or health care. There are an estimated 10,000 puppy mills in America that makes hundreds of millions of dollars a year. These dogs and puppies are sold in pet stores or online to unknowing consumers that fuel the puppy mill industry. 

Dog Fighting

Dog-fighting is a blood sport for the entertainment and profit of spectators. Commonly Pit Bulls or American Bulldogs are used for dog fighting giving the entire breed a bad name. These dogs are bred specifically for the biggest and most muscular dogs. The mother and father are often on steroids and so are the dogs that are raised to fight. They are kept on short heavy chains to build up more muscle and are kept in isolation to spark more aggression in the dog. They do not receive love or compassion from humans and are often beaten and neglected. Dog fights can range from a few minutes to hours. Regardless of the time, every single second of a dog fight between pit bulls is brutal. Pit bulls are like snapping turtles, they will not let go once they bite. They have very powerful jaws and will continue to shake the other dog until it can no longer hold on, and this is why pit bulls are commonly used as fighting dogs. The fight does not stop until both dogs are unable to go on or there is a death. The losing dog, if not already passed on will either be beaten to death or left to suffer from fatal wounds. Dog-fighting rings are cruel merciless places and are illegal in all fifty states. 

Greyhound Racing

Greyhounds are a dog breed known for their speed. These dogs are used in a dog racing contest to make a profit off of eager Americans waiting to watch these dogs as sport. This racing is now illegal in forty states and on the way to being illegal in Florida. Thousands of greyhounds are bred yearly in an attempt to breed the fastest dog. The unwanted dogs are disposed of in inhumane methods, in simple terms the most likely way for these “unwanted” dogs to survive is to be cast aside as a stray. The dogs chosen for racing are kept in confined cages for days at a time. Greyhounds that live on these tracks are often found to have traces of cocaine, Novocaine, lidocaine, and oxycodone in their blood systems. Females are given anabolic steroids which disrupts the female’s “heat cycle” to prevent loss of racing days. This steroid causes increased aggression and may lead to fights during racing, increased weight, loss of vigor, and virilization. These dogs are fed raw meat from diseased or disabled animals which leads to parasitic infections in the dogs. Greyhound racing is specifically for profit which means these dogs are mistreated to cut the pricey costs of owning a greyhound.

Fur Farms

There are at least 100 million animals raised and killed for their fur, these animals include but are not limited to mink, foxes raccoons, rabbits, and chinchillas. These animals spend their entire life trapped in wire cages with no protection from the elements. These animals often live with eye infections, bent or missing limbs, mouth deformities, and parasites. They are fed meat byproducts that are not consumable by humans, water is very limited. There is no humane slaughter law for these animals, they are killed in brutal, and painful ways. Animals may wake up while being skinned alive, some are electrocuted from head-to-tail methods, gassing is another common method.