Best Friends Animal Society
Animals have rights just like humans do!
Proposal:
- The Best Friends Animal Society is working to end the killing in shelters and create a time when there is no more homeless pets. The animal society does that by building community programs and building homes for the animals that have non where to go.
- The problem that is trying to be solved is taking abused/ homeless animals off the street or away from a bad household and give them a second chance at a normal life.
- The goal is to take animals out of a bad living situation and give them a second chance at life without sending them to a shelter where they might be killed. By Giving the Best Friends Animal Society $500,000.00 they will be able to afford more buildings for the animals, afford vet bills, and any other expensive like food, animals beds, ect.
Background of the issue:
- Taking animals off the street or taking them out of an abusive living situation is an important issue that needs to be fixed because animals have feelings just like humans do and just like humans they only have one life to live.
Why do people abuse animals?
Most people who abuse animals don't do it on purpose. Many of these people don't know that what they're doing is cruel. For example, some people don't realize what kinds of shelter different animals need. They may keep a dog in their yard with a doghouse that is on the ground and gets flooded with water when it rains, or they keep their dog on a short chain all the time.
Some people will try to keep their pet under control by using types of discipline. They may think that punishment and intimidation are the best ways to solve problems.
Some people hurt animals even though they think they're helping them. For example, some people have so many pets that they can't care for them all. These people are called hoarders, and they take in so many animals because they love them. Unfortunately, they can't care for all the animals they take in, and the animals end up living in a place that's cramped , dirty and unhealthy.
Reason Two:
The next biggest group of animal abusers do it on purpose, but don't keep doing it for a long period of time. For example, a group of kids may decide to throw rocks at a nest of baby birds they happened to see, or they may hurt a stray cat in their neighborhood.
These people are usually young, and they hurt animals because they aren't thinking, or because they can't stand up to their friends and peer pressure. The ones who are aren't really thinking might be mad at someone else (like their parents) and kick their pet dog because they can't kick their parents. Or they may think it's fun to watch an animal run away scared, without really thinking about how the animal feels.
The ones who are giving in to peer pressure might be trying to show off to their friends. Or they may be with a group of friends who are all trying to impress each other, and so they go along with what everyone else is doing.
Intentionally hurting animals for any reason is serious. In most states, those caught doing this will face harsher punishment than those who hurt animals unintentionally. However, these people usually don't hurt animals more than a few times. They learn to think about how others feel, and they learn to stand up for themselves. This group can be helped through education and support, too.
Reason Three:
The last group of people who hurt animals are the worst. These are people who intentionally hurt animals because they enjoy hurting things, or because it makes them feel powerful. Many of these people would hurt other people if they could get away with it. They just choose to hurt animals because animals are more helpless than people.
Why do these people hurt animals? There are different reasons. A lot of these people want to have control over others. They will hurt an animal because they think this means they control the animal. Or they may hurt the animal to control another person. For example, a husband might hurt the family's pet to show his wife what he could do to her if she doesn't obey his commands. Someone else might make his dog kill other dogs because he thinks that makes him powerful.
Others simply enjoy pain and violence. Those who enjoy violence might also destroy inanimate objects as well as animals and people.
All of the people in this last group suffer from serious, psychological problems that will probably not go away on their own. They often need the help of licensed professionals—like a psychologist. We are not 100% sure why people become like this—most are probably born with their problems, but others can get their problems from brain damage, poisonous environments, or by being treated badly themselves. Without help, the psychological problems these people have can haunt them for their whole lives.
Solutions:
Write Everything Down! Be prepared to provide information on the cruel act that you witnessed. Write down what you saw happen, who was involved, the date of the incident and where it took place.
Be Responsible! Don't let your animal friends roam free. Keep your cats indoors. Dogs should always be on leash and supervised when they're outside.
Be a Leader Be kind to animals and others will follow. Let your family, friends, classmates and adults know that hurting animals is not cool.
Volunteer Your Time! You're never too young to volunteer your time helping animals. Contact your local animal shelter or humane society for junior volunteer programs. For a list of shelters in your area, search our National Shelter Directory.
Spread the Word! Share facts and information about the prevention of animal cruelty and responsible pet care with your friends, family, teachers, neighbors and classmates.
Rationale:
Resuces from the Best Friend Animal Society
http://bestfriends.org/stories-blog-videos/latest-news/three-legged-dog-gets-new-beginning
Analysis:
This aligns more with structural functional rather than social conflict because this isn't all about making the animal society and more about the animals that need help.
Political Analysis:
The definition of liberal is "open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values." And the definition of conservative is "a person who is averse to change and holds to tradition values." Spending all of this money to the Best Friends Animal Society its hard to choose if this is liberal and conservative. But if I had to pick I would pick conservative because nothing is really being changed but it is helping a lot of people and lots and lots of animals.