CThru.com Presents Tony Ward

Posted by Melissa Norbeck

Decisions, decisions. Vanilla or chocolate? Tea or coffee? Pancakes or French toast? We are all faced with decisions in our lives, and we are forced to come up with answers to questions daily. But to wear, or not to wear, animal products is the question at hand. Deciding not to wear animal products really needs to be a conscious effort. In the picture from my last post, I wore “leather” boots, and someone asked the question that I knew would come up. Are my boots real leather? I knew the question would arise because when I was choosing my outfit, my mom also mentioned the boots. However, my boots are definitely all man-made material.
Ironically enough, I just went to see The Nutcracker Saturday at the Academy of Music, and PETA was outside handing out pamphlets about wearing fur. Years ago when people went to the Academy of Music, they got all decked out in their mink coats and diamonds. It’s not really like that anymore; still it was reassuring to see their presence. My aunt and I just had a conversation a few months back about wearing fur, and she thinks that people should not even wear fake fur. I disagree because there are now different options to choose from where people can still look just as good wearing faux fur and faux leather that they don’t have to wear the real thing.
The poor animals (cats, dogs, rabbits, fox, raccoons, etc…) whose fur is robbed from them, are skinned alive; how horrible that must be; just unimaginable. A problem is that many of the fur products are mislabeled, and people really don’t know what they’re buying. However, real is real, and it is expensive, so a person knows when he/she is buying real fur because of the cost. But many times the real fur is labeled with something like jackal when it is really cat or dog. So it is better to not buy real fur at all. I also have my list of companies who do not test on animals and try to only buy shampoo and makeup and things like that from those companies. I feel it is our duty to help animals; they have no voice and no choice – we are their voice, and we have the power of choice!

Posted By Melissa Norbeck
Animal Paintings by Joanne Hoffman

Animal cruelty is a matter I feel passionately about. Cruelty toward animals should not exist; there needs to be stiffer punishments which actually fit the crimes. Cruelty comes in many varieties: the selling of fur (cats, dogs, rabbits, etc… the animals are stuffed and piled into crates and then skinned alive), fighting of dogs, killing of wildlife, slaughtering of horses, clubbing of seals, testing on animals, and the everyday torture and neglect of family pets, just to name a few.

A big problem is over population. Between five and ten million stray cats and dogs live on the streets in America. And people are still allowing their dogs and cats to have more litters. It comes down to responsibility. The average lifespan of a stray animal is less than two years. That is an unnecessary, short, and brutal existence. To quote Bob Barker, “Help control the pet population. Have your pet spayed or neutered.”
Another form of cruelty is the killing of animals for human consumption. I have been a vegetarian for the past 17 years. I cannot make people stop eating meat, but the inhumane and cruel ways animals are killed need to stop.

More examples of cruelty: McDonald’s scolds its chickens alive. Ringling Bros. Circus beats its animals. Pigs receive no pain relief when they have their teeth removed with wire cutters. Chickens have their sensitive beaks cut off without painkillers. (Research has proved that chickens are smarter than dogs, cats, and even some primates.) Veal calves are confined to crates so small they can’t even turn around. Many companies test their products on animals. Companies need to work toward cruelty-free methods. And when it comes to fighting, people choose to fight, animals don’t.

Animals depend on us for almost everything, and we as human beings owe it to them – to protect them, to take care of them, and to not purposely put them in harmful situations. There needs to be justice. The animals do not deserve this treatment. There is just no reason for the torment and the torture, no reason at all.

The Humane Society, PETA, ASPCA, and World Wildlife Fund are just a few of the organizations who have been helping animals live better lives.
When we stop the killing and the suffering of our animals, we can restore the humanity!