Cat Abuse and Human Rights

Yes Grahame and because of this innocent until proved guilty law someone is right now conning and robbing more people while the law grinds slowly round deciding whether to prosecute or not.
Also this same person could be collecting cats again for all she abandoned the ones she had.
This is why if I saw an animal being abused, although I’m not a nasty violent person I’d ensure some punishment was meted out before reporting them.
It would be worth being punished myself !

First I would be inclined to meter out some of my own punishment because if I saw that I just wouldn’t be responsible for my actions.

I wouldn’t publish the video to you tube I would take it to the RSPCA.

Animal cruelty is sickening in any form and there’s just no excuse ever.

Ruth, you forgot something fundamental: under our systems of justice in UK and USA, one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. One retains rights unless and until they are judicially revoked in a lawful manner.

Videos like that should never be posted on YouTube, they should be given immediately to the RSPCA.
Not that I would stand and video animal abuse anyway, I’d be too busy giving the abuser a dose of their own medicine.
BUT a lot of animal abuse happens behind closed doors, there was a case near us of a dog living in terrible conditions and no one knew until it came in the local newspaper.
The person was prosecuted and fined but is still living where she was as her excuse was depression.
We are at present awaiting the outcome of another case, some neglected cats taken by the RSPCA, we can’t find out where or how they are because they will only tell the person who reported it.
The police are involved but we were surprised to find out that they don’t work closely with the RSPCA as we always thought they did, so they don’t know what is happening either.
Animal loving concerned people here just have to wait and hope for a prosecution and that it will be reported in the local newspaper.
The person has moved away now which is just as well for her sake !!!!!
In my opinion criminal acts against animals or other humans should forfeit the abuser to any rights !

Michael, you are a seemingly endless fount of interesting and pertinent posts.

I’m afraid that I must recuse myself on this one. But that asserted, my gut reaction is that the person who saw the repeated abuse and wanting to right this wrong, should have taken her video to the police or the district attorney and not published it on You Tube, or at least not at that time. If she did not obtain satisfaction, THEN she might have considered her other options.

Were I the neighbour who witnessed these crimes against the cat, I should have taken my video to the police in the first instance, or to the district attorney in the US.

The questions you raise concerning a right to privacy are highly technical questions.

Your question regarding rights of criminals and human rights do not come at it the way I would. I am interested in the rights of animals and better legal protections for them. I would like companion animals, even other animals, to have standing in our courts.

As to how my neighbours might have reacted, I have no idea. In some instances, I think that many of them don’t give a damn about non-human beings or their rights. And their rights (these beings) are not well established in current law, alas. Then again, we do not treat human beings very well, either!