Changes!- Mikaela Gatewood

Everyday, millions of animals are abused and left for dead by their negligent owners. The lucky ones land in an animal shelter already over flowing with other rescues, and the others endure awful fates. Should someone adopt them, their previous abuse makes it can sometimes make it hard for them to train and deal with in a normal family situation. This can deter people from potentially adopting rescues, leaving the animals without a proper home. There's no one else to blame besides the perpetrators of this cycle, their abusers. Not only do they hurt a defenseless animal, but they can make it hard for these rescues to have a happier life once they're out of the abusive situation. Currently there's a minimal punishment system for abusers, so I believe we should start off with non-extreme consequences and progress from there. Despite not being drastic, my proposal would still effectively punish the abusers, as well as offer a solution that could potentially decrease animal abuse throughout the country. Just as many of the abused animals are subjected to, I believe that we should lock the abusers in a cage. This would reduce them to their proper state of intelligence and overall deserved quality of living. They would be confined to cages generally just large enough to lay in, only being let out for a bathroom break every couple days, if that. Their meals would be inconsistent and stingy, but because of their lack of movement they wouldn't require much nourishment anyways. Overall this system would proportionate them to the most elementary level abuse they inflicted, but would also leave room for more drastic and appropriate punishment in the future. It would also help set an example for anyone dumb witted enough to try and hurt another animal, hopefully decreasing the occurrence of abuse. Soon abusers could begin to receive the punishment they deserve, helping to rid the world of more terrible human beings.