WHY ARE BAD SCENARIOS SO SHOCKING?

Written by Sal Salafia, Certified Avian Specialist, Founder of Exotic Pet Birds Inc.

It hits home hard. It rocks you to your core, it angers you! But why? Why is it that photos of horrible situations rock us to our core? My simple answer; Because it’s not the norm!!

We know better; we know that animal abuse cases are so shocking because they are not something we expect or condone. As a result, we get our minds working; how can this have happened? How can we stop this from ever happening again? Who can we punish for this? All good questions, but the problem is that these photos and videos are so shocking that they are now being used as a well-organized attack on pets in general and all their caretakers.

There has always been a faction of people who believe all pets should be left in the wild. No cages, no breeding in captivity, and no pet shops that promote this activity. This group of people has become well-organized over the past year. They have become a major powerhouse in the world, having used the love of animals to collect an enormous amount of money. That money has been used to “spend so much of the money to save animals”. It’s also been used to fund the lifestyles of executives of these organizations. For example, in a recent John Stossel expose piece, John addresses the insanity of pet stores being made illegal to stop animal abusers. It was disclosed in the video that the CEO of PETA received a salary of over a million dollars. Pretty great, huh?? Not!! It’s the beginning of the proof that PETA has one interest, its own preservation. Its own agenda, and unfortunately, its true mission from the top is serving its own best interest. Case in point: paying its executives millions to run the organization.

Well, this well-organized animal rights campaign has gotten really good at directing these animal abuse cases and pointing a finger directly at the pet industry. These organizations are utilizing their funds to create pressure on legislators. The idea is to confuse the public into thinking these scenarios are happening in every home in America! Really?!

These photos and videos are shocking to us all because they aren’t the norm!! My new role at the AFA has me thinking about this topic a lot lately. I’ve joined in many conversations over the last few months about this topic. The majority of people think similarly to my point of view. Before thinking about this highly controversial topic next, ask yourself. In my home, with my pets, while considering my actions, what would I score myself? Am I an animal abuser? No, then you probably aren’t alone. Would I compare myself to these horrible hoarding situations, or am I different? My guess is that you are more than likely caring for your animals (learning and researching ways to help your animals, like reading this blog regularly). The mere fact that you follow this company’s blogs and social media content actually confirms for me that you are, in fact, someone who cares about animals. So now that we are convinced that you aren’t one of “the bad guys”. I ask you - are you aware that there is an attack happening against your right to own your pets and be able to care for them like you do today?

Did you know this is not a casual thing, but rather a well-organized campaign designed with one point of view in mind? Want to do something about this? The most effective thing you can do is

A.) Join the AFA and follow the Pet Advocacy Network; both of these organizations are trying to put out fires around the country.

B.) get involved. This article I wrote today exposed you to the topic, and you can do the same to your sphere of audience, no matter how big or small that is.

C.) help educate everywhere you go- the answer is not to shut down breeders and pet stores. We must help others understand that deregulation creates much bigger problems. We need to convince legislators in our country to enforce stricter penalties on those who break the rules. We need to create legislations that stop certain people from having animals if they do something illegal involving animals. Lawmakers need to hear both sides of the story, and they need to get a better understanding of all that could backfire if the wrong legislation is created.

Get involved - write a letter to your local assembly person and let them know you are not in favor of any form of animal bans. We need to tell the government it’s time to attack the bad people and to leave the good people in our community to do what they have done to support our communities around the country, as they always have.