Animal Cruelty & Pet Shelters

My final research paper for my Intermediate Composition class is about the links between animal cruelty, child abuse, domestic abuse, and other forms of violence. I find this topic very interesting. When I was younger I used to watch those ASPCA shows all the time. I also used to want to be one of the animal cops like on the show. This paper just amazes me at the different stories I have found of people abusing animals. I don't understand how they are able to do that to such an innocent creature. Now, I'm not all for PETA and whatnot, but I do think animals have rights. To me they were made by God just like us, and deserve equal treatment. I also found it facisnating at how animal cruelty at a young age can lead those people to commit more serious crimes as adults. I'm actually kind of enjoying this paper, just because it's a topic I'm interested in. It's surprising because I normally hate my composition class.