Animal abuse has many faces and comes in many forms. It's a dog in a puppy mill producing litter after litter of puppies. It's a dog or rooster thrown in into a pit and made to fight to the death. It's a raccoon tortured at the hands of teenagers for "fun." It may even be a pet in your neighborhood, who is mistreated or doesn't get enough food, water, or attention. In short, it's any behavior that's harmful or life-threatening to an animal.

Why should you care? Because it's the right thing to do. Because cruelty to animals is illegal. And because people who harm animals may also harm people. Stopping cruelty to animals helps everyone.

Fact 1

Over 70 million animals a year are tortured and killed in US laboratories.

Fact 2

At least 5 billion US tax dollars are poured into animal experiements every year.

Fact 3

Draize Test: Rabbits are routinely blinded by having various products forced into their eyes. Although the test does not guarantee human safety, it protects companies from potential lawsuits by their consumers.

Fact 4

Laying hens are usually kept five or six to a fourteen inch square cage, and as many as 20% die of stress or disease from these living conditions.

Fact 5

Of the ten million cows kept for milk in the US, at least five million live on factory farms in conditions that cause tremendous suffering to the animals. Their life expectancy is only about four to five years. This is due in part to this fact: To keep animals at high levels of productivity, dairy farmers keep them pregnant constantly through the use of artificial insemination.

Fact 6

3.5 million fur-bearing animals (like beavers, otters and raccoons) are killed each year by trappers in the U.S. And although the fur industry downplays the role of trapping in fur "production", it's estimated that over half of all fur garments come from trapped animals.

Fact 7

Every year thousands of animals like elephants, tigers, rhinos, and other endangered species are killed by poachers to sell on the black market. In addition, canned hunts buy exotic animals from a variety of sources, including zoos, to allow hunters the thrill of killing them.

Fact 8

Overharvesting of the oceans and seas has lead to threatened populations of many fish and marine animals. More than half a million seals (that's 500,000!) are killed each year because of competition with humans for remaining fish.

Fact 9

Orcas (aka killer whales) can live up to 90 years in the wild. They live an average of only 5.2 years in captivity. Bottlenose dolphins live up to 45 years in the wild. In captivity, they live an average of about 5 years.

Fact 10

Over 50,000 Greyhounds are killed each year or sent to experimentation labs when they are no longer profitable for the racing industry.

Fact 11

40,000 bulls are killed annually in bloody bullfights around the world. For "entertainment" purposes, the bulls are tortured over the course of an hour, speared in their backs repeatedly, before finally dying from blood loss and/or exhaustion.

Sources:
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
Animal Cruelty
The Humane Society of the United States
The Dolphin Project