Research has clearly revealed the link between cruelty to animals and violence toward humans. In 88% of families being treated for child abuse in New Jersey, the animals in the home had also been abused. In one study, 57% of battered women with pets said their partners had harmed or killed their animals.23

The FBI lists animal cruelty as one of the indicators in its profiling of violent criminals. Citing that fact, and studies that show the link between violence to animals and violence to humans, activists (many who work with the Doris Day Animal League) have worked with legislators to pass laws that protect animals from human cruelty. Forty-one states and the District of Columbia now have laws that make certain kinds of animal cruelty a felony, carrying at least over a year of jail time. Animals, and the people who love them, are much safer today because of these efforts.24

Frank Ascione reviewed studies and case reports of children who were cruel to animals25 and concluded that serious, intentional harm to animals is one of the earliest signs – usually before the age of seven – of conduct disorder, behavior and psychological problems that include high impulsivity, violence, and disregard for other’s feelings. Repeated intentional cruelty to animals is characteristically part of a complex of symptoms that includes fighting, tantrums, truancy, vandalism, and fire-setting.26

Mary Lou Randour, Ph.D., the Director of Education for the Doris Day Animal Foundation, devotes herself to educating teachers and parents on the link between animal abuse and human violence, and promoting legislative and policy changes that will benefit animals. Children’s mistreatment of animals is often a warning sign that they are developing a tendency toward aggressive behavior that can eventually lead to violence. Randour offers practical ideas for helping children learn the skill of empathy through their contact with animals. Empathy, the ability to think and state how another being feels and the further ability to feel with another person or animal’s feelings and situation, is a major component of “moral intelligence.” The natural affinity children feel for animals has led to a growing number of programs that pair animals and children for the development of healthy positive change, such as pet therapy animals that interact with the children of domestic violence victims and children with special physical and emotional needs, and at-risk youth who learn how to train shelter dogs for adoption.27

Footnotes:

23  Alison Gianotto, Pet Abuse Statistics, pet abuse link

24  Holly Hazard, “Sensitizing Society to Those Cruel to Animals,” Animal Guardian, Spring 2004, p. 3.

25  Frank R. Ascione, “Children Who Are Cruel to Animals: A Review of Research and Implications for Developmental Psychopathology,” Anthrozoös 6 (1993): 226-247.

26  Gail F. Melson, Why the Wild Things Are: Animals in the Lives of Children,” (Harvard University Press, 2001), p. 164. See Randall Lockwood and Frank R. Ascione, eds. Cruelty to Animals and Interpersonal Violence: Readings in Research and Applications, (West Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, 1998), pp. 245-288.

27 Mary Lou Randour, Ph.D., “The Empathy Connection: Creating Caring Communities through the Human-Animal Relationship,” upcoming publication.