Animal cruelty is one thing that many individuals cannot comprehend. Why a person abuses a helpless animal is beyond the scope of understanding of most individuals. However, it is an evil that does exist in society. To better understand what constitutes cruelty to animals, there are actually two types to consider. Perhaps understanding the types will enable those who have a love of animals to aid in the prevention of cruelty to animals.

Acts of omission or passive cruelty are forms of animal cruelty. This is not a form of physical cruelty, but rather it is a form of passive abuse and is perpetrated if the animal is left without water, food, shelter or adequate medical care. Most of these cruelty cases occur because the pet owners are poorly educated about how to properly care for their domestic animals. If left untreated and unnoticed, a pet can perish.

The opposite of passive cruelty is active cruelty to animals. This is when an individual deliberately and with intent causes physical harm to an animal. Those who display these acts of commission, as they may also be called, usually suffer from severe psychological issues. If a child displays this behavior at any time, then a parent should seek immediate help. These occurrences have been linked to sociopathic behavior and can become worse as the child reaches adult life. As well, this type of cruelty often happens in an abusive home. In a union between humans, often an abusive partner will abuse the family pet for revenge.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 6:05 pm and is filed under News & Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.