- Do you subscribe to Dharma Dog Training’s Newsletter? You should.
- A Unique Campaign from The Humane Society of the United States
- Rabid bats in Omaha- Stay safe, prepared with these tips
- Springtime Activities in Omaha
- Mill Dog Monthly from Bailing Out Benji
- World Spay Day, Legislative Alert in Nebraska
- Attend the Nebraska Rescue Council’s monthly meeting this Saturday
- Five Hard-to-Ignore Reasons to Adopt!
- Paws in Pink to Benefit Breast Cancer Foundation
- VCA, Inc. Acquires MidWest Vet Specialists from Kansas State University
Preventing animal abuse – Should some pet owners be required to undergo background checks?
Here’s an interesting take from a guest contributor to Pets in Omaha. Most rescues and shelters do research on the person who is adopting an animal, but an official background check is not always common. Should owners be required to pass some kind of background check? Take a read:
A dog is a man’s best friend, right? Only this is a phrase coined by us humans. No one asks the dog if he wants to be friends with us and no one asks a dog’s opinion when they get a new owner.
Dogs, cats or horses are at the mercy of their owners and this leaves them exposed to the possibility of abuse.They don’t get a say in this, but we as a society should. At least when it comes to banning certain people from owning pets.
How can we prevent animal abuse?
According to statistics, between 55,000 and 60,000 cases of animal abuse are reported every year. What you should keep in mind is that this number refers to reported cases, which are but a fraction of those witnessed. In most cases, people don’t do anything. Not because they don’t care for animals. They do, but they are afraid to take action fearing reprisals from the owner.
For many pets, help arrives when it’s already too late – they are so severely malnourished and diseased they have to be put to sleep.
In severe cases, owners can be prohibited from owning animals in the future, but what can we do to prevent abuse in the first place?
One way of doing that is introducing background checks for people wishing to buy or adopt certain pets. This is an easy thing to do these days.
Say there’s a guy coming to the local animal shelter looking to adopt a dog. That’s great news for all concerned, but they’d surely understand if they were asked to submit to a quick background check done through an online character check agency like the one here. You can order such a check on your phone while you’re talking to the animal shelter people. When you get your criminal record check the next day, you can drive back to the shelter and pick the animal you chose. It’s not hard and it prevents so many heart-breaking cases of innocent animals falling prey to cruel people.
Should background checks be used for dangerous dogs owners?
Over 13,000 children are sent to the hospital each year following dog attacks. Every time such a tragedy happens, the media starts talking about banning certain breeds in Australia. That’s a valid concern, but how about banning certain people from owning certain dog breeds?
There’s a lot of debate as to whether some breeds are more dangerous than others, but one thing is certain. Many dogs, like Rottweilers or pit bulls are trained by their owners to be vicious. This is yet another form of abuse, as the owners often use violent methods to turn their dogs into ferocious beasts. And this kind of training sort of seals the fate of the animal. When they attack someone and the incident turns bloody, the animal will be put to death.
What about the owner? Shouldn’t they be punished or at least prohibited from getting another dog and starting all over again with the training?
How about making people looking to adopt large dogs take a background check to see whether they’re involved with any type of criminal activity? How much suffering would such a measure prevent?
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