Animal Welfare Issues

Like humans, animals need to be well-nourished, have a safe place to live and live without fear or pain. However, not all animals are treated this way, and some suffer distress, neglect or abuse. Some issues of animal welfare are controversial, and some methods of treatment are controversial.

Fur

• The fur industry is one animal welfare issue that is controversial. Many have raised concern with the ways animals are treated and killed in the process of harvesting fur. Animal farms often use painful electrocution in order to avoid harming the fur, for example, according to the American Humane Association. Wild animals in the United States are often trapped in steel-jaw traps, where they can linger for days in extreme pain before passing away.

Dissection

• Classroom dissection is another issue for which some people raise concern about the treatment of animals. Students often use real samples of frogs or other small creatures to cut them open after they are dead in order to learn about various organs. Environmentalists argue that the dissection of frogs, for example, is archaic and only teaches students about the anatomy of one species. In the meantime, an animal must suffer and die in the process.

Abuse and Neglect

• Many pets and farm animals suffer from abuse and neglect. A pet owner may beat his dog, for example, if he doesn't like a certain behavior, potentially causing serious injury to the animal. Or, a neglectful owner may only feed the animal once a day, or even less often, due to laziness or simply not caring about the animal's well-being.

Lab Experiments

• Environmentalists often point to lab experiments as a chief animal welfare issue. Mice, rats, rabbits, dogs and other animals are often put inside cages in labs to be used in testing for pharmaceuticals or other scientific testing. Environmentalists argue the procedures are cruel, painful and should be banned, while those on the other side claim that they are needed in order to further advance medicine and science.