There have been several instances where people have been charged with animal cruelty and abuse for starving, mistreating and not taking care of their pets. On January 29, 2014, a 5 month old puppy was brought into a shelter in Newark, New Jersey, after he was discovered in a box on the side of the road. Van Gogh has had one of his ears completely ripped off, and severe injuries to his head. Both of his front legs have open wounds and are severely infected. One hind leg is fractured. His lungs are in bad shape as well, due to injuries to his chest. Little Van Gogh has injuries beyond belief. He was used as a bait dog for dog fighting and was discarded to die.

Another example example from November 2013 - a puppy named Heaven, was left in her house to starve, with skin infections, burn marks and other evidence of mistreatment, before she was brought to an animal hospital and saved. Her owners only got a few visits to community service and a slap on the wrist. Many owners have left their pets outside in the freezing weather, leading to horrible conditions, freezing and frostbite injuries. Others have starved their animals, used them for fights, stuffed them in trunks of their cars to fight to death, tossed them out, and killed them and virtually got the same punishment. There is an urgent need to stop these individuals from hurting anymore animals - whether it is animal neglect, backyard breeding, animal fighting or any other type of animal cruelty.

Animals cannot speak for themselves, so we need to speak out for them and help them find justice for those who mistreat them. If you mistreat a child and get punished, no reason why you should not get the same punishment for mistreating a pet. To many of us, pets are our children and our hearts go out and bleed for them when they are hurt.