Please, please, please any suggestions?

I don't know what the crap is going on in my city. It seems that the animal abuse is getting rampant. I can't go a day w/o reading how someone let their dog starve to death then just covered it in old coats, or didn't take their wounded dog to the vet and allowed maggots to eat at her belly for a month before she died. Those are the last two stories (in 2 days none the less). We have 2 shelters, both are no-kill, I don't understand how this can happen, how people can do this to their pup companions. Any suggestions on how to raise awareness of proper pet care? Any suggestions on how to prevent these atrocities?