PROBLEM-BASED PROJECT FORM

Topic/Title Insensitivity towards animal rights

Group Details:

Name of the Group Members ID No.

ABRAR JAHIN ALVEE 21201226

NAFISA RAHMAN 21201446

NURJAHAN BADSHA TANNIM 21211009

Hypothesis/Assumption:(Assumption about two causes and two effects related to the issue)

We see children, at times some elders as well, throwing stones at a harmless dog. They
laugh, playfully throw stones and try to annoy the dogs. By any chance, if the dogs get mad
at some point, they bite the kids and eventually the dog gets beaten by the elders. What did
the dog do to deserve such an act? How many people do we see stopping the children from
doing something? Are we concerned enough about animal rights? Why do people enjoy
doing such a despicable act?

Our assumptions about this issue are that most humans benefit from the suffering of
animals, either monetarily or in terms of comfort and convenience. They hurt animals
because they think they’re superior to other animals and have somehow convinced
themselves that other animals aren’t as smart, don’t have feelings, and don’t recognize when
they’re being tortured/exploited/slaughtered. Humans think they are the top of the chain and
therefore can and do anything they want to animals because they are not human. They act
for their own glory, excitement, adventure, and greed. They don’t care about the suffering
they cause - they want immediate gratification at the expense of the animals.

As the majority of the human population has their own belief about being the superior
creation of all, the attitude makes them dominant over other animals without any sense of
 guilt or regret. Lack of empathy towards animals or even in some cases, lack of empathy in
general allows their self-conscience to go beyond humane nature. Sometimes these actions
have a life-long effect on the animal’s life. In most of the incidents it is seen that people
torture animal to a point, untill they tend to lose their life. Every so often we also
comprehend that some of the animals; e.g. Cats and Dogs mostly, are severely injured and
get affected, such as being disabled.

Research Methodologies: (Which data collection method will you follow and what type of
articles do you plan to read? Explain the process.)

We are planning on following second-hand research. We plan on reading four types of

articles which are Scholarly, Jstor, Weebly and Researchgate. We’d like to follow the
second-hand research, so that we find the causes and reasons why people are insensitive
towards animals evaluated by the certified authors. Then we plan on evaluating the expert's
hypothesis. So that we can work on our solutions both globally and locally.

For background, we highlighted some possible reasons for initiating cruelty towards
animals. We collected information from different articles and research papers that says how
huge numbers of animals face cruelty each year. Statistics of abusing animals in every five
years, since 2000, are shown by the given pie chart we found from the article ‘“Stop
Animal Cruelty”.

For the expert's opinion, we collected information from different sources, mostly research
papers and news articles. At first we went through multiple sources and analyzed the
common and root causes that were mentioned in those places. In the same method we
examined the effect as per the expert. Hence, after finding the plausible and most efficient
solution for the problem , we plan to compose the expert section with proper information
from the sources.

For case study, we took two real-life incidents. One from The Daily Star and one from our
own personal experience. As there are multiple real life incidents regarding this very issue.
We desired to contribute an exceedingly recent and excruciating story that will help us to
understand the severity of the issue.
Work Plan/Action Plan: (tentative; activities must be carried out equally by the members)

Name of Person
Date Activity
Responsible

Hypothesis (grabber, causes), Research

Methodologies, Case study (real-life
28th Dec 2021, 29th
incidents, causes), Researcher’s notes Abrar Jahin Alvee
Dec 2021, 1st Jan 2022
(Individual and unique solution, Personal
observation)

27th Dec 2021, 28th Hypothesis (causes, effects), Research

Dec 2021, 01st Jan Methodologies, Expert, Researcher’s Nafisa Rahman
2022 notes (comparison), References

29th Dec 2021, 30th Background, Research Methodologies, Nurjahan Badsha

Dec 2021, 1st Jan 2022 Case study (possible solution), References Tannim

Data Log of Research Articles

BACKGROUND (explain how the problem arose/how severe it is, and how people are
generally suffering due to this problem - include facts, statistics, etc.) Must include visual
information here in the form of a chart, line graph, pie chart, bar/column graph, flow
chart, etc. and report on it.

Cruelty toward animals can be for a variety of reasons. People who are under control of
others; unnoticed by society and are victims of violation can lead to animal cruelty. Jonston
(2011) stated “Most commonly, children who abuse animals have either witnessed or
experienced abuse themselves.” She further illustrated that 30 percent of children abuse
animals, in the similar way they face domestic violence. Dadds (2006) described that children
tend to develop both conducting problems and cruelty to animals in abusive family
environments. Nevertheless Dadds (2006) also mentioned not only children facing family
problems are the key of animal cruelty, children with lack of empathy or emotions, known as
CU, can arise animal abusing. People having high levels of CU traits is a possible reason for the
rise of animal cruelty.

Rajeweski (March 18, 2015) mentioned, in one year, almost a million animals are tortured and
murdered. He further illustrated, “the Animal Rescue League of Boston helped investigate 420
criminal cases of animal cruelty in 2013”. These huge numbers of animal violations reported
everyday are just the tip of the iceberg, the actual numbers are never reported. This makes it
difficult to calculate how common animal violations are. However, by surveying the given
articles, reports and records over the past ten years, we can understand that it's not an issue that
we just think about and then do nothing, just because these animals are not human like us. It's
urgent to prevent reasons for abuse. For rural and urban areas, animal cruelty is common.
People intentionally hurting animals can be a threat to our society. Intentional cruelty to
animals can lead to violation against people and so many other crimes. Dogs, cats and farm
animals are mostly victims of animal abuse. Now if we talk about children abusing animals,
children who are physically abused usually tend to abuse animals. According to the Wisconsin
Humane Society, Children who suffered abuse from family are three times more likely to
torture animals and have an abusive relationship later in their own life.
 The proportion of animal abuse over the fifteen years is illustrated by the given chart above. If
we take a look, we will observe how there is an enormous difference between the year 2000 and
2015. The left hand section shows the most rise of animal abuse in 2015, then second most
animal cruelty took place is in 2005. So every five years, the rate of torturing species is
fluctuating. At the beginning of the 20s, compared to recent years, least number of animals
were tortured. To sum up, it could be inferred that a greater proportion of animal abuse took
place in 2015, pretty much recently. Perhaps, lack of proper guides to our children; seeking
animals for experiments and factory farm industries results in this cruelty.

EXPERT (explain three major causes, three major effects and two possible solutions from
experts, specialists, authorities, etc. regarding the problem - each point must be well-elaborated
with citations/facts/statistics/etc.)

There cannot be any specific reason as to why a person in general happens to develop cruelty or
insensitive behavior towards animals. However, some very major and common factors play a
vital role behind an individual's character development. Dadds,R,M(2006) mentioned in his
journal about relationship between animal cruelty, family conflict, and psychopathic traits in
children, that according to statistical hypothesis done with a sample population of 131 children
between the ages 6-13, callous and unemotional(CU) traits over laps the initial manifestation of
family conflicts in this matter of issue. The writer also mentioned that antisocial behavior to
externalizing behavior emphasizes temperamental factors in the child’s early association with
disruptions in the development of empathy and conscience. As a result, these children respond to
lower levels of punishment and quickly learn to avoid specific behaviors, including negative
emotions in others (Dadds & Salmon.(2003).

Henry's (2017) theoretical contribution fills a gap in the current animal abuse literature by
focusing on the underlying cognitive structures and processes that may explain why someone
chooses to harm animals over other forms of criminal behavior. The schemas and scripts that we
learn from our experiences shape how we perceive the world. Schemas (defined as abstract
representations of concepts [for example, objects or places] consisting of their typical attributes
and characteristics(Fiske & Linville, 1980) and scripts (defined as cognitive rules that bias how
we interpret and evaluate social information, which also influences our decision-
making( Tomkins, 1991) that we learn from our experiences shape how we perceive the world.
They skewed our perceptions of social interactions because they included assumptions about
how others would react to us in a given situation (Ward, Polaschek, & Beech, 2006).
Consequently, the fact that animals do not have the ability to take a stand or speak against the
violence, it makes the person feel powerful and hence easier to dominate.

On the other hand, as per numerous researches that were conducted for over decades to find the
root cause of violence and cruelty amongst adults towards animals; It was found that most of the
individuals were involved with diverse [Link] is caused by the lack of empathy and
superiority complex within an individual-self. The psychological urge makes them take such
action to give themselves self-stroke or recognition to make them feel [Link] a
repercussion, the most common was domestic violence towards their [Link], further
researches later on suggested that, domestic partners are not the only source of animal cruelty
caused by interpersonal human relationships. Animal cruelty is part of a larger pattern of
aggression that includes human assault, domestic violence, intimidation, and harassment.
Despite the fact that much research has focused on romantic partners, family members and
neighbors are also involved in animal cruelty (Richard C., Reese L.A.2019) Perpetrators of
human assaults are also more likely to use physical force against animals. People who shoot at
other people are more likely to shoot at animals. As a result, both human and nonhuman animals
are subjected to the same forms of violence (Sheridan D.J., Nash K.R.2007).

Witnessing cruelty to animals and failing to report it is a crime, just as failing to report any
crime against humans is. We must be gentle with animals. Witnessing cruelty to animals can be
upsetting, but one must know how to handle the situation in order to keep the animal from being
abused in the future. Give the abused immediate veterinary care, or call an animal care helpline.
We must also become acquainted with animal protection laws so that when filing a complaint,
one is aware of the technicalities. Notifying the appropriate authorities and educating students
and adults will go a long way toward preventing animal cruelty.(Kaur,K.2020).

(Matta,R.2020) mentioned that animal cruelty is real and widespread. It happens to all kinds of
animals all over the world. Animals can love and form social relationships, but they can also
feel pain, fear, and desperation. As a result, it is now the responsibility of humans to prevent
cruelty to animals. Through seminars in their respective educational institutions, teach high
school and college students to respect animals. Parents should set a good example for their
children by being kind to animals. Children who are cruel to animals are more likely to grow up
to be insensitive. Government shelters and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should
provide temporary homes for animals who have been abused, injured, or are sick and need time
to recover.
CASE STUDY (present a real-life incident or case from the perspective of the victim/target
group) The information below should include causes, effects and possible solutions from the
victim’s perspective.

Case 01:

In The Daily Star, Nilima Jahan states that, on November 3rd, a video of a stray dog being
beaten in the bathroom of an apartment in Kazipara, Mirpur was posted on Facebook. The dog
is said to have bitten a 12-year-old child in the area, and his uncle, home guard, and
accomplice punished him. Anyone who watched the 4-minute video could easily understand
how much the attacker hated animals. "Why don't you die? One of the frustrated attackers took
a breath before deciding to stick a stick nearly three feet long into the dog's mouth. It screamed
and screamed until it finally stopped moving. On the same day, nearly 40 activists rushed to
the scene with police and demanded that the attackers be punished. After that, a question and
answer session was held with the family. The founding Executive Secretary of Care for Paws,
Zahid Hussein, who was there that day, argued: Firstly, the dog did not bite the baby, it was
merely a scratch. Secondly, there was no evidence that the dog in question had rabies, as no
other animal in the community was bitten. Furious dogs generally result in more people being
bitten in the community.

Activists then went to the Kafrul police station to raise the case. Unfortunately, the Station's
Officer In Charge (OC) did not allow them to file a proceeding, but instead asked them to file
a complaint. According to Hussein, the OC was unaware of the 1920 Animal Cruelty Act.
According to this, someone could be fined up to 200 BDT for "killing all animals in an
unnecessarily cruel way" and could be imprisoned for at least six months.

"We tried to explain to him the whole situation, but OC didn't allow us to submit the case. He
was just told to complain," Hussein says. After this episode, Zahid and others tried to contact
the police several times to ask about their complaints. But they didn't get the right answer. On
the 4th day, I went directly to the police station. That didn't make a difference either. Finally,
OC answered the phone and called out to Hussein. Why call me for such a trivial question?
Don't call me anymore and don't come to the police for this issue. When contacted by Star
Weekend, after many attempts, OC hurriedly said, "The problem is under investigation," and
he said he would speak. later. In reality, such proceedings are rarely filed and criminals are
rarely fined, but animals like Rakibul Haq Emil, founder and chairman of the People for
Animal Welfare, commonly known as the Paw Foundation. Rights activists refer to many
cases. We are recording abuse of animals. "In Bangladesh's history, only three cases of animal
cruelty have been raised. In our experience, police are not willing to accept such cases and
many of these cases have been overlooked. I can say, "says Emil. In any case, the fines are so
small that they serve little as a deterrent. The Cabinet passed the 2016 Animal Welfare Act
earlier this year, but it still has to be passed by Congress. The proposed law provides that
anyone who abuses an animal faces two years' imprisonment, a fine of 50,000 taka, or both.
This is arguably a long delinquency step in the right direction, but without proper oversight
and implementation, it is just a false promise of protection for those who are too defenseless to
protect themselves from inhumane atrocities.

Causes:

According to Sarah Zarrar (2009), Programme Coordinator of Obhoyaronno-Bangladesh

Animal Welfare Foundation, the reasons behind animal cruelty can be due to lack of education
and awareness, pent-up anger from abusive parents and most commonly, a false sense of
heroism. Besides, these people lack empathy as well and they do not feel gloomy while hurting
them. Moreover, civil services take cases regarding animal cruelty very lightly. They think
these cases are trivial. As a result, these people are not learning from their crime and continue
their atrocious work.

Possible Solution:

The law of our nation should definitely have some responsibility for neglecting animals. For
instance , if the life of an animal is endangered due to its negligence, then severe punishment
should be provided for it. To make sure that animals should not be neglected in any way.
According to the article ‘four paws international’, we should report whenever we see any
abuse or neglect towards animals and act . Immediately reporting to the police can prevent
further cruelty if anyone witnesses such crime. Anonymous (31 May 2021). Socially and from
every family, ‘responsibility’ to show flexibility towards animals should be mandatory.
Treating children in such a way, that they will also learn how to love animals. This can make a
difference in our society.
Case 02:

In Dhaka, local people usually live in houses in a certain area named as ‘housing’ or colonies.
The buildings are built in a very congested area. As a result, they are very close to one another.
Now, we live in a building on the 5th floor which is surrounded by other higher constructions.
My cat used to roam around the house since it was little. When my cat grew up he started to
jump to other buildings and meander there. It became a daily routine for him. He used to stay
here and there and come back home at night. One day we saw on the body, a large portion of
his fur was diminished. It looked like someone threw boiled water on him. Then, he stayed
home for a few weeks.

After that period, he started to roam around again. One day while I was passing right beside
the front door I heard my cat yowling. I opened the door and saw he was severely injured.
Someone hit him so hard on his face that he lost all his teeth. He had an injured leg too which
denoted the fact that someone tried to beat him with a sharp tool. Yowling being injured is the
worst feeling ever. At one point, our family members thought we might have to euthanize him.
We still called the vet and the doctor said he cannot eat a solid meal now.

So, we had to give him milk everyday. We had to hold tightly an injured cat in order to feed
him medicine and it cried a lot but it was for its own good. It was a very tough time for him,
for us too. He could not move properly let alone jump and play for months.

Causes:

People are cruel, when they see a stray cat roaming around the house, they tend to think it has
come to steal food and they start beating up with whatever they find close to them. They do
not have empathy towards that poor animal so they don’t feel bad hurting them. This is a
problem, people who have no capacity for empathy. Society codes it as psychopathic or
sociopathic behavior. There is a medical term called EDD (Empathy Deficiency Disorder)
which also causes people not to care about animals and humans. People also desensitize
themselves to the suffering of other humans and find many reasons to justify it.

Possible Solution:

Humanity is the root of having affection for animals. It is normal for people to survive with
humanity nevertheless when someone begins to mistreat animals ferociously , they lose their
morality, thus failing to become a human being. Therefore , again introducing humanity is the
key to change this inhuman situation. The best gift of our Creator's creation is the human race.
Then there’s the creation of the animal kingdom for the benefit of the human race. And we
humans don't prioritize them. We think that people's responsibility is only for humans,as the
human race is the best race. This egoism shows how much our nation has been degraded
which is proved by the way we abuse animals. According to the Four Paws International
article, we should teach our children how to have respect for animals. Anonymous ( 31 May,
2021) also says, “Show children how to treat animals with love and consideration. Help them
 to grow up to become the next generation of advocates for animals.”

Researchers’ notes on: (i) comparison of findings with hypothesis, (ii) individual and unique
solution/s to the problem, and (iii) personal observation while working on the problem.

Comparison:
The early hypothesis that was made has been colossally related to the causes and effects that
were found during the research for expert’s opinion. As stated earlier that the human creation
believes that they are the superior out of all the creations, this belief leads to superiority
complex as well as callous and unemotional (CU) traits leading to lack of empathy within a
person; as mentioned by (Dadds & Salmon.(2003). However, the assumption that people tend
to torture animals in order to feel the need of achievement was in fact not proven by any
statistics or factual evidence. It is said that the personality trait of torturing animals is in some
measure a psychological effect or disorder. The statistics suggested that, almost the entire time
animal abuse was reported, the people had clinically proven psychological issues. It can be
concluded that the hypothesis and research were related to a high degree; But some also
contained information that was not proven by strong statistical evidence.

Individual and unique solution:

We have talked about insensitive people but we do not keep it in our concern that our local
stray dogs and cats are sometimes attacked by random people as well. It happens because of
overwhelm and desensitization. When we see something every day, it simply becomes the
norm, sad to say. So, tourists to areas are shocked and horrified and often rescue and bring
home street animals they have fed and managed to befriend and get close enough to handle.
For residents of the area, there are so many and they multiply people become numb and choose
to ignore them. So, we should feed the local animals once or twice a week. Make sure these
animals don’t get hurt, stop them from hurting these animals e.g. when we see children or
sometimes elder people throwing stones at dogs we should stop them and teach them about
animal rights. Children might not abide by our words but we have to make them understand
patiently. There are also movies which represent gloominess and feelings towards animals.
Those help us to understand that we should always consider animal rights important and not to
violate them.

Personal observation:
We already know about animal cruelty, but through all our studies we have learned why
people are insensitive to animals. I've heard about some animal rights infringements. I also
learned about animals that are bred in various zoos and are not properly taken care of. In zoos,
there are some cases where animals are infected with various diseases. In fact some of them
died. We've heard a lot of secrets, and even the fact that public services are downplaying these
cases.

References
Anonymous (31 march, 2021). Ways to prevent cruelty to animals. Four paws international.
[Link]
preventcrueltytoanimals/ways-to-prevent-cruelty-to-animals

Ascione, Frank. (1993). Children Who Are Cruel to Animals: A Review of Research and
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Butler, H., & Gannon, T. A. (2015). The scripts and expertise of firesetters: A preliminary
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Henry, B. C. (2017). A social-cognitive model of animal abuse. Psychology, Crime, and Law

Jahan,N.(2017).The inhumane human act of animal [Link] Daily Star.

Johnston, E., J. Children Who Are Cruel to Animals: When to Worry. Psychology Today.
[Link]
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[Link]
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[Link]
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Rajewski, G. (march 18, 2015).CSI Animal [Link].

[Link]

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Ward, T., Polaschek, D. L. L., & Beech, A. R. (2006). Theories of sexual offending. New
York, NY: John Wiley.

Zarrar, S.(2009).The inhumane human act of animal [Link] Daily Star.