Animal Cruelty

In the U.S. today, the majority of people acknowledge a love of animals. Animal protection is rated by 77% of Americans as highly important. According to a Gallup poll, 32% of Americans have a belief that animals should be given the same rights as people. Change.org supporters have animal rights as their most popular cause globally. In his recent encyclical, Pope Francis endorsed the intrinsic value of all animals.

Many people are no exception when it comes to sharing experiences of volunteering with animals at local shelters. Many people have spent many hours in Texas at a wolf sanctuary. Some people even aspire to one day own their own sanctuaries so they can create an even bigger impact.

There is a budding community of people developing in effective altruism that utilize evidence as well as reason to be of help to others as much as they can. GiveWell is one organization is a charity evaluator that recommends opportunities for giving to help the poor globally. They moved over $27 million dollars to help top charities back in 2014 and are on track to do even more through a partnership with Good Ventures foundation. The opportunity to continue to do larger amounts of good is very exciting to many. Many people donate quite a bit of their time to volunteer to help animal organizations in the safety, feeding, medical treatment, and preservation of many animal species.

One of the major components to the effective altruism is the continuous search for the most promising causes where they can be the most effective and do the most good. Many animals need help on a daily basis through animal shelters, and animals that are in direct harm of humans and have been neglected by owners, charities, and policy makers.

Many animals are left out of protection efforts because they are slaughtered within our own food system. It is important not to forget that these animals have rights as well and feelings and desires much in the same ways humans do and that in itself should command compassion and respect. 360 animals on farms are killed in the U.S. for each cat or dog that is put to sleep in a shelter. Typically, $200 is given to animals shelters for each $10 given to charities for farm animals.

In the U.S. today, well over 99% of farmed animals are subjected to cruel situations where they are forced to endure cramped confinement that are so small in size the animals can’t even turn around comfortably and they are stuck in their own feces and urine. Many agree there is a better way.