Animal Abuse in Hong Kong - Essay Sample

Introduction

The social problem is the behavior that is unacceptable in the community where the person behaves against the family values. There are consequences of a social problem because there are certain acceptable behaviors in the community. People with the social problem face victimization from the people because the community views them as an outcast (Li 2016). The social problem is affecting many communities where the communities are worried about the social values being lost and the young people beginning to embrace unacceptable behaviors. Social change is what results in social problem because people respond differently to the changes that occur in the communities. Globalization has led to a social dilemma where certain acceptable behavior is not acceptable in other communities. People migrate to other communities, and their behaviors are a social problem in other communities.

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The social problem has both positive and negative effects on the community. Among the effects of social change include the cruelty on animals where people treat animals (Spector & Kitsuse, 2017). The act of treating animals poorly is a social problem in communities where the animals are used and mistreated by their owners. There are animal bodies that are responsible for ensuring that animal rights are respected. Animal abuse is a social problem where people are abusing animals by mistreating them. The mistreatment of the animals come in various ways; some of the ways of the mistreatment look as if it's a normal treatment of the animal (Will, 2018). Hong Kong is among courtiers where animals have been facing mistreatment by people. The local government of Hong Kong has come up with regulations to punish people who are caught handling the animals cruelly.

Among the theories that relate to animal abuse include the conflict theory by the German philosopher known as Karl Marx. The theory argues that people are trying to compete for limited resources including social materials (Chan & Sadovy, 2014). The conflict leads to some stakeholders being affected by the conflict. The stakeholder might include animals where the people abuse the animals as they try to fight over limited resources. People end up mistreating the animals. The theory argues that the lack of proper structure to solve challenges in the community complicate issues when the challenges come up. The theory also explains that people have a bad behavior of treating animals in a cruel manner leading to the suffering of the animal.

The social problem involving the animals include where animals like dogs are locked up in cages by their owners. The animals have a right to freedom rather than being enclosed in an enclosure (Li 2016). People enclose the dogs all day, and they release them at a time in order to offer them security. Enclosing the dogs in rooms where they don't have a conducive environment to the dog is against the right of the animals. The dogs go through psychological torture because they don't have the opportunity to interact with other animals from the same family. Some owners of the dogs lock the dogs and fail to provide them with foods; hence the animals end up suffering. The owners of the dogs might not have the capacity to feed the dogs when they lock them up; hence the animals suffer.

Some people try to domesticate wild animals that are not used to living in a closed environment, trying to domestic wild animals such as monkeys is against the rights of the animals (Li 2016). Hong Kong people are known to love to try and domesticate wild animals such as monkeys and snakes. The animals end up suffering because they are beaten by the people who want them to behave in a manner that they are not used to. The animals are captured and sold illegally to potential owners who don't have any experience of handling them. The wild animals are beaten when they fail to please their owners because they are not used to the life of being kept chained or caged. The authorities have been able to rescue many wild animals that used to be tortured by their owners who were trying to domesticate them.

Other animals die when they get sick, and the owner is not aware whether the animals are sick or healthy. The animals get sick because of the environment that they are exposed to and they are not used to such environments (Li 2016). The wild animals don't get quickly ill in the wild because they are used to living in the natural habitat. The number of some animals such as snakes has reduced significantly in the world putting the animals at the risk of distinction from the world. Some animals are even killed because people believe that they bring bad luck to them. The government of Hong Kong punishes people that are caught mistreating the animals.

The other cruelty occurs when Hong Kong people keep certain animals for consumption to consume later (Li 2016). Such animals are kept under certain conditions to make them grow faster and provide meat. The animals are later killed to provide meet when their owners are convinced that they meet the meat demands that they wanted. Animals such as chicken are kept mainly to provide meat to their owners or be sold to buyers who want them for meat.

People abuse the animals for different reasons, but the animals suffer no matter the reason for the torture by their owners. Keeping the animal chained throughout the day is illegal because animals do not get the freedom of movement (Sherwood, 2017). The animal gets psychological torture. The social problem of animal abuse in Hong Kong has left many animals dead and tortured which is against their right. People that keep domestic animals in large scale keep the animals in conditions that are meant to make them grow faster. The animals are not given the opportunity to grow normally because their owners want them to grow faster and sell them for meat. Among the animals kept in such lives include chicken.

Animals deserve to get social justice and be treated in the right manner where their rights are respected. The state should come up with a way of ensuring that people who are mistreating the animals get punished for their actions (Sherwood, 2017). When few people set the example that it's not right to mistreat the animals, other people will learn a lesson that the animals have the right to be treated fairly. Some cultures advocate for the mistreatment of certain animals because people believe that animals represent bad omen; therefore, they should not be allowed to live. The animal control entails ensuring that the animals are not mistreated be creating awareness of the rights of the animals.

Some of the forms of animal abuse are puppy mills, dog chaining, horse and dog racing, bullfighting, sport hunting, fur trapping and farming, animal hoarding, animal lab experimentation, religious rituals, use of animals in TV programs and films as well as farming and ranching (Li 2016). Some people abuse animals intentionally while for others it is not. Those who abuse animals intentionally are likely to commit other crimes such as human violence. Intentional animal abuse occurs through actions such as hoarding. Some people neglect animals by keeping them far away from where they can hardly take care of them. Researchers believe people who hoard animals have a serious mental problem that should be addressed. Some of the animals that suffer abuse mostly are horses, dogs, cats, and livestock.

Animal neglect in Hong Kong is attributed to the inability to cater to the animals kept as pets. Stray dogs are rescued frequently by Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In 2017 3,880 stray dogs were rescued in Hong Kong (Yeung, 2018). This was a decline because in 2015 5,189 dogs were rescued. In 2017 approximately people gave up their pets because they could not effectively take care of them. SPCA also faces a challenge in regards to resources for taking care of the rescued animals.

Many people I Hong Kong neglect their pets because when acquiring them they never considered the responsibility of taking care of the animals. Just like people animals need shelter, food, and healthcare (Yeung, 2018). If a pet is ill, the owner has to ensure that it receives the appropriate medication. This sometimes becomes a burden especially to those who do not have a stable income. In such a scenario, neglect may not be intentional because the pet owner may be willing to care for their pets, but due to financial constraints, they are unable to do so.

Well, some think that the reason why animal still exists in Hong Kong is that the laws on animal abuse are outdated. Although this law exists some perpetrators go unpunished; therefore animals continue to suffer yet little action is taken. This, however, does not mean that one has been found guilty of the offense and charged. This indeed has happened, and an example of this positive response is when a Hong Kong man received a jail term of a year for starving ten dogs in his Yuen rural home (Tong, 2018). This is an indicator that although animal law is viewed as outdated, it is sometimes functional.

Apart from pleading guilty to the charge of animal cruelty the man also admitted to eight charges of keeping the dogs without a license (Tong, 2018). The man had 18 canines and a cat in his home but failed to feed them, so they died. Animal carcasses and the foul smell originating from the homestead prompted neighbors to call the police. Upon arrival, they found out that some of the animals were dead, but eight dogs and one cat were alive. Yes, one can be in a position where they are not able to take care of the dogs, but the wisest thing to do is release them in someone's custody or free them. This is the reason why Chan was found guilty of the offense even after indicating that he had left his home the previous year. So, does the animal abuse law work? The answer is yes; what needs to be done is to make them strict.

However, laws will not alleviate the problem of animal abuse in Hong Kong if the citizens are not educated that animal cruelty is a bad thing. People should be made to understand that animal animals also are entitled to freedom and just like human beings they have their rights. Sensitization is effective in solving social problems. Every person should be educated on why they should treat the animals well because police cannot be everywhere. In some cases, people poison their pets or throw them from a tall building. If such people are educated on why these acts are unacceptable in society, then there is a likely hood that cases of animal cruelty in Hong Kong will reduce significantly.

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should establish platforms where those who wish to report cases of animal cruelty can do so at any time of the day. They should also ensure that their centers are accessible so that those who wish to give their animals can do so. The people should be educated on what they can do if they are not in a position to care for their pets. They can take them to the SPCA centers or give them out for adoption. Alternatively, they can release them from the cage so that they can be rescued. These simple interventions can eliminate some of the cases of animal cruelty. Animal welfare is not the responsibility of the SPCA only, but every citizen should play his/her role.

References

Chan, T. T., & Sadovy, Y. (2014). Profile of the marine aquarium fish trade in Hong Kong. Aquarium Sciences and Conservation, 2(4), 197-213.

Li, P. J. (2016). Animal suffering in China. Animal Sentience: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Animal Feeling, 1(7), 8.

Sherwood, H. (2017). Why Buddhist 'fangsheng'mercy release rituals can be more cruel than kind. The Guardian. September, 25.

Spector, M., & Kitsuse, J. I. (2017). Constructing social problems. Routledge.

Tong, E. (2018). Hong Kong man jailed for a year after...