Animal Abuse Studies

1) In at least four of the high profile school shootings that took place within the last five years, all of the kids involved had histories of animal cruelty

2) In a study of 153 subjects who had committed intentional abuse, 70% had criminal records

3) The FBI associates animal cruelty with violent behavior and uses reports of cruelty in analyzing potential threat

What Parents Can Do

Many people may not recognize the connection, but cruelty to animals is often linked to human abuse and violence. Studies have shown that cruel acts against animals often occur before more criminal behavior is displayed. Keeping this in mind, children showing signs of aggressiveness towards animals should not be overlooked.

Kids may do cruel things to animals for a number of different reasons. They may be taking out their anger on the animal because they see it as a powerless being and something that they can control. This could also be an indication of domestic abuse in the home where the child is mimicking his or her experience. “Violence is a learned behavior, and like any learned behavior, it can be changed. In order to do that, though, it is important to recognize the warning signs of violence and to get help before violence occurs,” says Dr. Russ Newman, American Psychological Association.

The most important thing is not to ignore it. Children should be disciplined for their actions so they will realize what they did was wrong, and in order to instill a sense of empathy should be taught that animals sense and feel things just as they do.