The veterinary field is the same way. I saw a TON of abused pets & animals when I was doing vet tech work. I ultimately decided not to pursue vet school.
We treat animals worse than humans. Even pet animals are often sent to an overcrowded shelter where animals are killed according to the "first in first dead" principle.
If you want to know what cruelties humans are truly capable off I suggest you look at how we treat animals. As long as we declare a certain subgroup of humans "inhuman" we will treat them the same way.