It is believed that there are many reasons why people abused animals. According to Prosecuting Attorney Allie Phillips, the motives of animal abuser include to gain perverse satisfaction and instill fear in humans, punish the animals for a person’s misbehavior, to demonstrate intolerance for rules being broken (if I can do this to the dog, I can do it to you), and threats to keep the partner (the woman, in most cases) from leaving. However, the list of reasons can continue and vary based on the number of animal cruelty cases currently taking place.

Phillips is even one example of seeing the effects of animal abuse when temporarily took care of a cat named Jacob. When she picked him up from a cat orphanage located in Virginia, she heard that the cat was abandoned by its multiple owners and presented signs of abuse and trauma. Phillips stated: “[When I brought him home,] I noticed that he was afraid to use the letterbox. Something traumatic happened to him with the litter box. I suspect that the two prior families were not truthful and returned him for that reason. I quickly learned that he would use a puppy pad if I put it right next to the litter box. Over time, he has gone into a litter box a few times, but he still uses the puppy pads. So I am giving him a calm and safe environment to live to help him recover from his abuse.”

17-year-old, high school graduate Christina Valentin had a story to tell about the second dog she adopted named Chloe. She found her dog through fosterdogsnyc.com. She had to fill out an application and Chloe caught her eyes and she wanted her ever since. The day that Christina got the dog, Chloe was supposed to be put down. She recalls the day she got the dog, “the dog was super skinny and just plain bones. Chloe was terrified of me at first but after a couple of days, she warmed up to me.” Chloe exhibited symptoms of abuse and malnutrition. Upon more research and observations of the dog, Christina found out that Chloe’s original owners constantly beat her and starved her. Because the beatings were given by a male, Chloe developed a fear of males based on her trauma. After a few rough days with Christina, Chloe began to warm up to her. Chloe is a now a healthy well fed dog. She says, “Chloe is very overprotective of me.” The dog that once had to endure beatings and starvations without anyone protecting her has now made it her job to protect her owner, who she loves so very much.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, 64.5%, or more specifically 1,212 out of 2019, of many animal cruelty cases involved dogs, more specifically pit bulls; 18% of these cases involve cats and 25% involves other animals. The reported cases abuse against pit bull-type dogs appears to be on the rise. In 2000–2001, pit bull-type dogs were involved in 13% of dog- abuse cases.
As a prosecuting attorney, Phillips acts as an advocate for animal rights and strives to help animals in need. Her duties include reviewing different articles and regulations associated with a certain case of animal abuse even by visiting the scene of the crime and interviewing officers, humane agents, and even the animal owner if known. Afterwards, she researches different options to help the victim whether it is treatment, alternative housing options or other service options. Even though she’s helped a numerous amount of animal cruelty cases, animal abuse has not yet declined.

In one of the earliest reported cases of animal cruelty, United States V. Stevens, Robert Stevens was accused of "knowingly selling depictions of animal cruelty with the intention of placing those depictions in interstate commerce for commercial gain”. According to a Pennsylvania federal district court, Stevens claimed that it violated his Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. However, his conviction was overturned because The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit agreed with Mr. Stevens. Due to this case, a law was created “barring the creation, sale, or possession of any depiction of animal cruelty with the intent to distribute and sell it.”

These animal cruelty regulations were however debated and questioned if they fall under the protection of the First Amendment. According to a Christian Science Monitor article from October 2009, the Obama Administration asked the court to “carve out a new exception to Constitution’s Free Speech Mandate.” However, instead of making the law as minor as a 1999 law associated with the United States v. Stevens case, the Congress wrote a statute “criminalizing a wider [area] of conduct involving "animal cruelty." Due to this issue, many animal rights activists were satisfied to see that the government had an interest in preventing inhumane treatment toward animals. However, many are still wondering whether animal cruelty is a major concern for the government compared to the past.

Currently, many animal cruelty cases are taking place all over the United States. In an article posted by The Florida Times Union, a mother and daughter have been charged with animal cruelty after Florida Police found dead and malnourished dogs and a cat were found in their rooms. The police had difficulty entering the motel room where the mother and daughter were living in because the stench of rotting flesh was incredibly strong. Three were found in the motel room but only the mother and one of the daughters were charged with felony animal cruelty. Denise Jimenez, 40, and Seantey Jimenez, 21, were each charged with six counts of felony animal cruelty. The third woman was not charged due to mental issues, reports say.

Another example of current animal abuse cases is the “Puppy Doe” case. According to boston.com, a Polish immigrant named Radoslaw Artur Czerkawski was arraigned at the Quincy District court on “11 counts of cruelty to animals and charges of misleading a police investigation”. This case started when a dog was almost found dead at the Whitwell Street Playground on August 31. The dog had many injuries “which included starvation, burns, stab wounds, fractures, dislocated joints, and torture-type injuries to the dog’s tongue.” While she was being treated, the veterinarians also noticed that the dog “weighed half what she should have… [,] the dog’s tongue was purposely split [,] had been burned on the nose, stabbed in the eye, and beaten so severely that she could barely walk.” This dog was put down for the extent of these injuries. Later, Czerkawski was arrested in New Britain, Connecticut on October 23 when he was living on Whitwell Street with an older woman as an elder caregiver. Many search warrants were even taken out of the investigation because this case was important to everyone. Quincy Police Chief Paul Keenan said: “We took the matter very seriously. It was a grave concern to us. Our detectives have been working pretty much around the clock.” Keenan also said the price for animal cruelty includes felony charges and a five-year sentence in prison.

Criminal penalties for people convicted of animal abuse just isn’t enough. According to New York State Law, animal cruelty can be fined up to $1000 with imprisonment of up to 1 year. Animal Aggravated Cruelty, a person can be fined up to $5000 with imprisonment of up to 5 years. Many are trying to create more ways for a person to be punished for their crime(s). According to an article by the Huffington Post, in California, a group known as The Animal Legal Defense Fund of Cotati “wants to create “Do Not Adopt” registry in hopes of alerting adoption centers of convicted animal abusers.” Of course it is not easy because they have been told that it costs a lot of money to make a new registry. A lot is against this defense group but they have not given up the faith that a new registry will open where convicted animal abusers would be registered in.

Also, many animal lovers are protesting for stricter animal cruelty laws in the country. One protest is currently happening in Boston, MA during the arraignment of the “Puppy Doe” case. According to The Boston Globe, Mary Nee, the president of Boston’s Animal Rescue League, is one of many who believes that animal cruelty laws need to become more effective. In order to “But I think public awareness and people speaking up will be our strongest defense.” Her protesters aren’t the only people who are speaking out about animal abuse. After the announcement of this case, hundreds have spoken about the case including “through tips to Quincy police, through messages on social media sites, and in vigils and [other] protests around the city.” Bruce Ayers, a Quincy Democrat, is another who believes that “our current animal cruelty laws . . . are not tough enough to cover this type of extreme inhumane behavior. In most cases, very minimal sentences or fines are charged against perpetrators. Current animal abuse laws also include: “jail time of up to 2 ½ years in a house of correction, up to five years in a state prison, and/or up to $2,500 in fines for each cruelty offense.” The strive and amount of heart into this case has proven that animal abuse is an issue the people still find very important and essential to end. But how are animals’ rights going to improve if others find this issue less important compared to others?

No matter how long it takes for the number of cases to lower and animal abuse laws to become stronger, Phillips believes that these efforts will not only become stronger for the future, but also prepared for future and different types of cases: “I believe that we will go even further and see a new classification for animals as “animal victims” or “living property” so that they are not treated like a toaster when they are victimized; we will see more species protected (farm animals, wildlife, strays and ferals are not protected in some states); and greater awareness of the public which will demand greater protection under the law. I believe that in the next few years we will see a larger crackdown on animals being sold or traded on the internet.”