My Brother Abuses Our Cats!!

Your brother is displaying signs of Active Cruelty (Acts of Comission). I work with animal cruelty cases. You should print this and leave it where your mom or dad can see it. Let them read it, don’t try to force it on them. They probably know something is wrong and are in denial or do not know what to do and think he will grow out of this stage. It is not a stage and should be taken very seriously.

Animal cruelty is often broken down into two main categories: active and passive, also referred to as comission and omission, respectively.

Passive Cruelty (Acts of Omission) Passive cruelty is typified by cases of neglect, where the crime is a lack of action rather than the action itself - however do not let the terminology fool you. Severe animal neglect can cause incredible pain and suffering to an animal. Examples of neglect are inadequate feeding, parasite infestations, inadequate shelter in extreme weather conditions, and failure to seek veterinary care when an animal needs medical attention. In more severe cases such as starvation, dehydration and allowing a collar to grow into an animal’s skin or other circumstances that require immediate removal of the animal, medical treatment, and/or euthanasia should be considered cruelty, not neglect.

In some cases of neglect where an investigator feels that the cruelty occurred as a result of ignorance, they may attempt to educate the pet owner and then revisit the situation to check for improvements. In more severe cases however, exigent circumstances may require that the animal is removed from the site immediately and taken in for urgent medical care.

Active Cruelty (Acts of Comission) Active cruelty implies malicious intent, where a person has deliberately and intentionally caused harm to an animal, and is sometimes referred to as NAI (Non-Accidental Injury). Acts of intentional cruelty are often some of the most disturbing and should be considered signs of serious psychological problems. This type of behavior is often associated with sociopathic behavior and should be taken very seriously.

According to a 1997 study done by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Northeastern University, animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people and four times more likely to commit property crimes than are individuals without a history of animal abuse.

Many studies in psychology, sociology, and criminology during the last 25 years have demonstrated that violent offenders frequently have childhood and adolescent histories of serious and repeated animal cruelty. The FBI has recognized the connection since the 1970s, when its analysis of the lives of serial killers suggested that most had killed or tortured animals as children. Other research has shown consistent patterns of animal cruelty among perpetrators of more common forms of violence, including child abuse, spouse abuse, and elder abuse. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association considers animal cruelty one of the diagnostic criteria of conduct disorder.

If you break it down to its bare essentials: “Abusing an animal is a way for a human to find power/joy/fulfillment through the torture of a victim they know cannot defend itself.”

Now break down a human crime, say rape. If we substitute a few pronouns, it’s the SAME THING. “Rape is a way for a human to find power/joy/fulfillment through the torture of a victim they know cannot defend themselves.”

Now try it with, say, domestic abuse such as child abuse or spousal abuse: “Child abuse is a way for a human to find power/joy/fulfillment through the torture of a victim they know cannot defend themselves.”

Do you see the pattern here?

The line separating an animal abuser from someone capable of committing human abuse is much finer than most people care to consider. People abuse animals for the same reasons they abuse people. Some of them will stop with animals, but enough have been proven to continue on to commit violent crimes to people that it’s worth paying attention to.

Virtually every serious violent offender has a history of animal abuse in their past, and since there’s no way to know which animal abuser is going to continue on to commit violent human crimes, they should ALL be taken that seriously. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Allen Brantley was quoted as saying “Animal cruelty… is not a harmless venting of emotion in a healthy individual; this is a warning sign…” It should be looked at as exactly that. Its a clear indicator of psychological issues that can and often DO lead to more violent human crimes.

Others either abuse pets or threaten to abuse them as a way to control an individual.

“So much of animal cruelty… is really about power or control,” Lockwood said. Often, aggression starts with a real or perceived injustice. The person feels powerless and develops a warped sense of self-respect. Eventually they feel strong only by being able to dominate a person or animal.

Whether a teenager shoots a cat without provocation or an elderly woman is hoarding 200 cats in her home, “both are exhibiting mental health issues… but need very different kinds of attention,” Lockwood said.

Those who abuse animals for no obvious reason, Lockwood said, are “budding psychopaths.” They have no empathy and only see the world as what it’s going to do for them.

The fact is that the serial killer examples are only the ones that are sensational enough to make the news. These are the high-profile cases that some animal welfare organizations use to drive their point home, but the reality is that this pattern has shown itself over and over again in much less “news-worthy” cases. One might argue that they in fact, lessen the impact, because it makes this connection appear to be something that only exists in serial killers and “psychos”, when in fact its very likely that everyone reading these words knows someone who has abused animals.