By now, we all know that humans are terrible for our planet. We have cruel, selfish tendencies that will, in my opinion, ultimately lead to the downfall and destruction of the place we call home. Most of us can identify our issues with crises like pollution, war, and deforestation, but not many think about the malice that is being done to the relatives of many of our “family members:” our pets.

     Animal cruelty is one of those topics that come up in conversation once in a while then gets forgotten about. Maybe one will bat an eye at one of those commercials talking about the abuse before they decide to tune them out when hearing the phrase “For only one dollar a day…” Ultimately, it is very easy to put this issue on the back burner when our world is so negative today. With the war in the Middle East, the next election coming up, and personal debt and money problems, it makes sense that people’s “I care” tank is running a little low. With that being said, the level of abuse taking place is something that simply can’t be ignored. One example specifically is the cruel practice of animal testing.

      Over 110 million animals are estimated to be tested on each year according to Humane Society International. That is about one-third of the amount of people that reside in the US. In addition to that, HAARETZ states that 97% of those animals are killed in the process. They are poked, prodded, and injected until literal death. A survey was done that concluded that 69% of people believed that animal testing was necessary for the progress of science and medicine, but in reality, the Humane Society stated that “Animal experiments don’t accurately mimic how the human body and human diseases respond to drugs, chemicals or treatments.” Continuing this further, the FDA states that only 8% of animal testing gets the desired outcome. In conclusion, all of these numbers and statistics just go to show that this is inhumane.

     Even with every statistic in the world, it is really hard to care super deeply when it doesn’t affect the individual. That is why a few people have taken to social media to share their personal stories involving this matter. TikToker Sam McGraw has over 577,000 followers on her platform, in which she often shows her dog, Ted. McGraw rescued Ted after being tested on for the first five years of his life, having a number tattooed on his ear as a permanent reminder. Daily, McGraw preaches about the injustices that animals go through, and what brands make them go through it. Many videos have gone viral with companies getting upset with being called out, but McGraw isn’t the only one to do it. Content creator, Lori Meg, has a beagle that was tested on as well. A video went viral of her dog, scared to even walk in the door, with her captioning the video: “The people in the labs who branded on these dogs and used them for lab testing should be put away for life. This girl has no peace.” Reaching an audience of 1.7 million people, the top comments are nothing short of supportive, saying  “Animal testing should have been banned globally long ago.”

     While many may think, “There’s nothing I can do about this,” that is simply not true. An obvious option is donating to organizations that fight against testing. Other ones try to get animals adopted after testing, rather than the much more common killing. If one doesn’t want to spend their money, one very simple and easy fix is buying products that are cruelty-free, meaning they don’t test on animals. I will warn you though, it is not as easy as it seems without being educated. It is not illegal to just put “cruelty-free” on a bottle of something, which leads many companies to use it as a marketing ploy. However, the solution to the misinformation is simple. There are organizations, two specifically, that will certify a product as cruelty-free free and it will be shown on the bottle. PETA and Leaping Bunny are the two main ones, and if one sees their logo on any product, they can have the peace of knowing no harm was done to fellow life in order for it to exist.

     The world is already a hard place to live in, but we as humans on this planet need to understand that there is other life here, too. So even though there are a million things to worry about in today’s day and age, make it a million and one. There are beings that can’t speak, and therefore need people to speak for them. We can be their voices.