Compassion for Animals Adds Many Benefits to Our Society
There have been some hateful comments towards animals on my last few articles. I thought I would take a couple of minutes to explain how compassion and pet ownership can improve our lives and our communities.
How we treat animals says a lot about who we are. Experts from many fields are researching and recognizing the benefits and significance that animals have in the lives of people.
Children with pets have:
- Less allergies
- Higher IQ scores
- Easier interaction with peers
- Increased ability to nurture and care for others
- Increased sense of responsibility
Seniors with pets have:
- Lower blood pressure
- Improved balance, coordination and muscular strength
- More motivation to exercise
- Less depression and anxiety
- Higher survival rate of coronary heart disease
The violence link:
Research has also revealed that there is a direct link between cruelty to animals and violence towards humans. Here are some statistics:
- In 88% of families being treated for child abuse in New Jersey, the animals in the home had also been abused.
- In one study, 57% of battered wmen with pets said their partners had harmed or killed their animals.
- The first common link the FBI found among serial killers was cruelty to animals.
Whether you like animals or not, research is clearly showing that communites that encourage responsible pet ownership are better places to live. Thank you to Best Friends Animal Society for compiling the sources for this article.
Sources: Stanley Coren, Why We Love the Dogs We Do; Dr. Marty Becker, The HealingPower of Pets; Leo K. Bustad, DVM, Compassion: Our Last Great Hope; Alison Gianotto,Director, Pet Abuse Statistics, www.pet-abuse.com; Janet Deery, President, Animal Awareness,www.animalawareness.org; Kids’ Best Friends: Pets Help Prevent Allergies, www.cnn.com/health
Randy1949
10:09 am on Monday, October 1, 2012
I realize that many of those comments must have been difficult to read. I know i found them so.
The link between violence toward animals and violence toward human beings exists is that in some cases the individuals lack empathy -- that quality that allows us to feel another's pain. Social mores may restrain that callous or outright sadistic behavior toward human beings but -- it's just an animal, right?
James R Hoffa
12:27 pm on Monday, October 1, 2012
Hoffa does not tolerate violence towards animals. In Hoffa's mind, violence towards animals is far worse than any kind of violence towards another human being. Anyone who commits violence against an animal should be charged with life in prison with no possibility for parole as far as Hoffa is concerned!
Matt
11:46 am on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
I love that violence against animals is being talked about. I like to say you can tell a lot about a society by the way it treats its animals.
I ask you both and all readers to take this a step further. What do you eat? Are you eating cows, chickens, and pigs on a daily biases? Do you know how they are treated when taken to slaughter? Would you be ok if this were happening to a dog?
You can just google how we treat animals in factory farms and then how we kill them to see why we should not be in this type of diet. I hope all of you who stand against abuse of cats dogs and other animal companions will stand with me and millions other and go vegan.
Randy1949
12:16 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
I can't make my cats vegan without harming their health. The same applies to dogs. That should be a clue about human beings, who are natural omnivores. Shall cattle and poultry go extinct?
I would rather focus on humane conditions for animals in the food chain than to insist on a vegan diet.
Matt
1:31 pm on Tuesday, October 2, 2012
I agree that Cats cannot be vegan. I have one of my own and love him dearly and looked into this and found they need the meat. (I don't like it but so be it). Dogs on the other hand can be healthy on a vegan diet.
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-10/living/vegan.dog.diet_1_vegan-diet-plant-based-diet-vegan-option?_s=PM:LIVING
That is a small reading just highlighting it with some resources at the bottom for further reading.
As far as Cows, Chickens and Turkeys are concerned they could live as a wild animal. Just look at wild turkeys they live fine. Its not like everyone will become vegan over night and leave us with billions of animals. As demand goes down so will the supply.
James R Hoffa
1:19 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Hoffa supports Temple Grandin designed slaughter houses!
Randy1949
10:57 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
@JRH -- Are the Grandin designed slaughterhouses humane in their handling of the animals? The other alternative would be to buy kosher meat, because the animals have to be handled with a minimum of pain and fear or the meat isn't kosher.
James R Hoffa
11:54 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
@Randy1949 -
Read up on Temple Grandin or watch the autobiographical docudrama film about her life, staring Claire Danes - she's an amazing woman that Hoffa has a lot of respect for! Grandin slaughter houses are about as human as you can get.
Randy1949
12:01 pm on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
I know Temple Grandin is autistic and that she had a dream about cows going through a fence that allowed her to design a better system for moving them. A decent slaughterhouse should be more humane than a cow or a buffalo getting taken down by a large predator.
Mafia Mike
5:09 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
I never knew what a great companion with unconditional love was until I divorced my wife and bought a dog.
James R Hoffa
11:55 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Who says you can't buy love ;-)
Randy1949
11:59 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
You can't really buy love if it's a cat. You have to earn it with them, but once you do, it's unconditional. Cats don't care how much money you have or if you're ugly as a mud fence. They just care how you treat them.
Heather Asiyanbi
11:30 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Animals are some of my favorite people. No joke.
James R Hoffa
11:55 am on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Ditto ;-)
Greg
12:11 pm on Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Some of my favorite people are animals...