Animal Abuse as a Public Health Issue Analytical Essay

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

The condition of public health in a society depends on many factors. To achieve good standards in this sphere, it is crucial to identify harmful factors, introduce effective laws that would deal with these factors, and to realize these laws in practice.

In this paper, we will attempt to identify one of such factors, the level of cruelty towards animals, show its relation to public health, and offer some legal tools that might prove useful in addressing the problem. The problem of animal abuse is significant for the public health of a society.

Despite the fact that public health legislation does not include this issue (for instance, in Baltimore County Code the article concerned with animals (#12) is separate from the article concerned with public health (#13) (American Legal Publishing, 2015)), the problem of cruelty towards animals has an important correlation with the area of public health, or, more precisely, with one of its parts – behavioral health.

Indeed, it is evident that violence towards animals is, in most cases, related to violence against humans. For instance, Flynn (2011) argues that “animal abuse is linked to a variety of interpersonal violence, including bullying, juvenile delinquency, adult violent crimes and other nonviolent offenses”; it has been shown that cruelty towards animals often “co-occurs with woman-battering” (p. 454).

Therefore, the link between animal abuse and public health exists, and it demands both public and legal attention. The prevention of cruelty towards animals is a major factor that might contribute to preventing interpersonal violence; for example, Flynn (2011) argues that ending violence against animals “is an important step in ending all violence” (p. 454).

It is stated that in 2013 many police officers did not consider animal abuse a vital problem, treating it “as a minor property crime” (Smith, 2015); many of them consider it a “Fluffy-Muffy issue”, not worth worrying about (Siebert, 2010). Even though there exists legislature protecting animals in Baltimore County (American Legal Publishing, 2015; Baltimore County Government, 2014), it is apparent that it needs to be adjusted in order to enable law enforcers to elicit the facts of animal violence and prevent them more effectively.

The law should also make the change in the officers’ attitude towards the problem possible on the institutional level; for instance, it might establish specific training programs elaborating the importance of the issue. It is also possible to legally introduce anti-violence programs into the school curriculum (e.g., into primary schools). Clearly, such programs need to be carefully designed and well-implemented to be effective.

As we have seen, the problem of animal abuse, being linked to interpersonal violence, is directly related to the sphere of public health. Battling animal abuse is vital to address the problem of behavioral health of the society. To do this, it is possible to introduce legislation which would allow the law enforcers to protect animals more effectively, as well as to create laws that would introduce the explanation of the issue to schoolchildren.

References

American Legal Publishing. (2015). Baltimore County Code. Web.

Baltimore County Government. (2014). Animal laws and policies. Web.

Flynn, C. P. (2011). . Crime, Law and Social Change, 55(5), 453-468. Web.

Siebert, C. (2010). . Web.

Smith, V. (2015). A dog in the fight: Baltimore’s enforcement of animal-cruelty laws is getting some bite. Web.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2019, June 25). Animal Abuse as a Public Health Issue. https://ivypanda.com/essays/animal-abuse-as-a-public-health-issue/

Work Cited

"Animal Abuse as a Public Health Issue." IvyPanda, 25 June 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/animal-abuse-as-a-public-health-issue/.

References

IvyPanda. (2019) 'Animal Abuse as a Public Health Issue'. 25 June.

References

IvyPanda. 2019. "Animal Abuse as a Public Health Issue." June 25, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/animal-abuse-as-a-public-health-issue/.

1. IvyPanda. "Animal Abuse as a Public Health Issue." June 25, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/animal-abuse-as-a-public-health-issue/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "Animal Abuse as a Public Health Issue." June 25, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/animal-abuse-as-a-public-health-issue/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1