This month, Excalibur, a dog owned by an Ebola patient, was euthanized two days after his owner was put in quarantine. Many people posted pictures with their dogs on Facebook to protest Excalibur’s euthanization.

Excalibur isn’t the only victim of this horrible practice. Three to four million dogs and cats are euthanized every year. In 2007, 1,800 animal cruelty cases were reported. There are some owners who abandon their pets and or don’t meet their pets’ needs. For example, some animals have no shelter, food or water, and some are left chained without any of these things.

Dogs are like people, just smaller and with four legs. Every animal has a soul and a personality just like person and should be treated as such. Some people think that animals have no feelings, and it doesn’t matter how they are treated. Well, they are wrong. They can feel pain; they can be hurt just like people.

Other people love animals and care for them deeply. There are organizations that help abused and abandoned animals find a new home. There is the ASPCA, an organization that helps fight animal cruelty. They send animals to a vet if they have any medical problems and take care of them until they can be put up for adoption.

There are laws in place against animal abuse, but people still violate them and many of these offenses go unnoticed. Some animals are starved to death and the owners are never reported.

We can’t let this happen to all those innocent animals. We have to take a stand against animal abusers. There are lots of ways to help stop animal cruelty, such as volunteering at a local animal shelter or even becoming a vet someday.

With all these ways to help, I hope you do.