Animal Cruelty and Social Media

Social media plays a big part of our day to day lives. Some times it can determine the day to day life of an animal. Social media is used to spread horrifying information on the intentional abuse and neglect of poor defenseless animals. We have all see the terrible videos going around on Facebook of people tormenting animals for no reason, and there is no reason to treat any animal like that. If you have a pest problem, allow the proper authorities to handle it. However, social media also allows us to post information about these horrible people and raise awareness of these situations. It allows us to take a stand and speak out against any type of abuse or neglect, animal and humane. Just recently, there was a scare of what is know as "Kill a Pitbull Night." This was supposed to take place on Halloween night. I'm not sure if all of you are aware but, cats (primarily black cats) are not sold or adopted out near Halloween because of certain practices. "Kill a Pitbull Night" not only condoned the behavior of beating and killing these animals but also supplied a list of things to use to torture these dogs. As this pitbull article made it's way around social media, the animal lovers of the world became skeptical and horrified. So much so that this article was "investigated" by Snopes.com and made an appearance on a local newscast in Dayton. Snopes.com concluded that this article was just a hoax but one can't help but wonder why someone would even think about doing something like this.

Social media isn't all bad though. There are many articles, support groups, rescue groups, and nonprofit organizations that are dedicated to helping animals and people. The article "Social Media and the Story of 'Buck Needs Bucks'" is a perfect example of how social media is used to raise awareness for our four legged friends. According to this article Buck was shot and made his way to a local animal shelter. His injuries were so bad that he would be blind for the rest of his life. One day Buck was adopted. Buck also required a lot of medical attention that required a lot of bucks. A fundraiser was setup on a social media site to raise awareness of animal cruelty and to help raise money for his treatments. Buck is now thriving and ever so grateful to everyone who helped him.

Social media can be used for good and bad. It is our job to decide and promote what is good. I believe we need to raise awareness through all types of media to help the abused and neglected. We need to stop the horrible people who post videos and articles of abuse and neglect. It is our responsibility to take a stand for those who can't. We need to use social media to demonstrate the love that is left in humanity.  



http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/lifestyles/pets/social-media-post-encourage-attacks-on-pit-bulls-o/nhp9R/

http://www.snopes.com/critters/cruelty/pitbull.asp

http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2013/04/online-activism-against-animal-cruelty/