Animal Cruelty: Impacts and Perspectives

• Animal cruelty's impact on the USA is being examined.
• The topic is explored through ethical, political, and environmental lenses.

Ethical Perspectives

• Madeleine is analyzing the ethics of animal cruelty, including animal testing.

Political Ramifications

• Destiny is researching the impact of animal cruelty on dissecting animal cruelty laws and how well they work, as well as improvements.

Environmental Angle

• The environmental impacts of animal cruelty, such as farm overcrowding, diseases affecting wildlife, and high methane (GHG) emissions, are being examined.

Defining Cruelty

• Animal cruelty is the abuse or neglect of animals and can be passive or active.
• Passive abuse involves neglect, like lack of care, failure to feed, and denial of health maintenance.
• Active abuse involves direct physical harm.

Environmental Effects of Animal Cruelty

• Scientists who do animal testing harm animals and dump toxic chemicals that pollute water when not properly disposed of.
• Factory farming leads to unsustainable short lives for billions of animals to meet consumer demand.
• Nearly 66% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in the US come from cows and larger animals.
• Animal agriculture is the leading polluter of US rivers and streams because of runoff water and high demand for meat.

Local Animal Cruelty

• Employees have been caught actively abusing animals in Florida, such as in Miami Beach and McArthur Dairy. Farmers use sharp tools and blowtorches to raise the animals.
• Texas and California are top GHG emitters due to population, demand for animal products, and the need to quickly raise livestock.
• Agricultural waste was 11% in 2021.
• By 2025, agricultural waste is predicted to increase to 32%.
• If the USA reduces GHG emissions from farms it could drop to 21%.
• Almost 15% of all human-caused GHG emissions come from global animal agriculture.
• The demand for meat, especially in Africa, could double GHG.
• If the livestock industry continues unsustainable practices it can become the largest cause of habitat destruction that is caused by the building of more farms.

Global Impact of Animal Cruelty

• India has illegally killed over 35% of animals for food in the last 3 decades.
• Billions of trees have been cut down for farms, reducing India's biodiversity and increasing animal cruelty toward cows and chickens.

Potential Solutions

• Laws and regulations can reduce animal product demand to promote sustainable farming.
• GHG emissions in Europe have fallen by almost 9% in 2023.
• France, Germany, and Spain have reduced methane GHG by 24%.
• The Netherlands has reduced GHG emissions by 65% since 1990 and continues to regulate animal production.
• Europe reduces livestock and enforces healthy farm lives, resulting in the Netherlands predicting to reduce GHG emissions by 50% in 2030.
• Regulating products can improve livestock conditions on farms and increase animal rights awareness, less deforestation, and lower GHG from methane.
• Focusing on plant-based products may lead to water shortages and deforestation for farms.
• Reducing farms for animal products can harm the economy due to job loss and unstable animal production.

Conclusion

• Livestock exploitation harms the environment; reducing animal product production, balancing it with plant products, and implementing regulations is important.
• Balanced food production can reduce animal exploitation and environmental effects.

Exploring the consequences of animal cruelty in the USA through ethical, political, and environmental viewpoints. It covers ethical concerns such as animal testing, the impact of animal cruelty on dissecting laws and how well they work, and environmental issues like farm overcrowding and high methane emissions.