Animal and Human Abuse

[Khephra]

Animal and Human Abuse

Violent acts toward animals have long been recognized as indicators of a violent psychopathology that does not confine itself to animals. "Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives," wrote humanitarian Albert Schweitzer. "Murderers...very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids," according to Robert K. Resler, who developed profiles of serial killers for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Studies have now convinced sociologists, lawmakers, and the courts that acts of cruelty toward animals deserve our attention. They can be the first sign of a violent pathology that includes humans.

A Long Road of Violence

Animal abuse is not just the result of a minor personality flaw in the abuser, but a symptom of a deep disturbance. Research in psychology and criminology shows that people who commit acts of cruelty against animals don't stop there; many of them move on to their fellow humans.

The FBI has found that a history of cruelty to animals is one of the traits that regularly appears in its computer records of serial rapists and murderers, and the standard diagnostic and treatment manual for psychiatric and emotional disorders lists cruelty to animals as a diagnostic criterion for conduct disorders. Studies have shown that violent and aggressive criminals are more likely to have abused animals as children than criminals considered non-aggressive. A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well, including one patient who had murdered a boy. To researchers, a fascination with cruelty to animals is a red flag in the lives of serial rapists and killers.

Notorious Killers

History is replete with notorious examples: Patrick Sherrill, who killed 14 coworkers at a post office and then shot himself, had a history of stealing local pets and allowing his own dog to attack and mutilate them. Earl Kenneth Shriner, who raped, stabbed, and mutilated a 7-year-old boy, had been widely known in his neighborhood as the man who put firecrackers in dogs' rectums and strung up cats. Brenda Spencer, who opened fire at a San Diego school, killing two children and injuring nine others, had repeatedly abused cats and dogs, often by setting their tails on fire. Albert DeSalvo, the "Boston Strangler" who killed 13 women, trapped dogs and cats in orange crates and shot arrows through the boxes in his youth. Carroll Edward Cole, executed for five of 35 murders of which he was accused, said his first act of violence as a child was to strangle a puppy. In 1987, three Missouri high school students were charged with the beating death of a classmate. They had histories of repeated acts of animal mutilation starting several years earlier. One confessed he had killed so many cats he'd lost count. Two brothers who murdered their parents had previously told classmates they had decapitated a cat. Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer had impaled dogs' heads, frogs, and cats on sticks. Sadly, many of these criminals' childhood violence went unexamined—until it was directed toward humans. As anthropologist Margaret Mead noted, "One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a child is to kill or torture an animal and get away with it."

more.........................

http://www.animalshelter.com/abuse.html

Also remember that Frist and Bush have both abused animals in their younger years.

[DenverDem]

1. Our denial of cultural animal abuse in general desensitizes us

to human abuse, so that we can culturally accept the unfathomable brutality of our invasions of conquest.

Those millions of cows slaughtered daily don't feel pain or know the terror of the abattoir. The chickens whose beaks we burn off of them so that they don't peck their cell mates in their terror of their confinement are too stupid to know what is happening to them. Iraqi civilians that get their arms, legs and heads blown off by our precision bombs collateral damage should have overthrown Saddam themselves, are too stupid to know what is happening to them.

It is no wonder we can kill without remorse, we participate in remorseless brutality daily with what we eat and what we wear.

[Khephra]

4. What I don't understand is that

I've told people of the photos coming out of Iraq, but until it involved animals, no one cared. I'm happy the tide is turning, but that's really strange.

[DenverDem]

6. People who are sensitive to animals respond to their abuse.

Humans, as a specie, deserve less compassion because, whatever it is, they should know better.

[LibertyorDeath]

2. Robert K. Ressler is brilliant.

Whoever Fights Monsters By Ressler is well worth the read.

[Cleita]

3. True and the parents of these disturbed children are often

part of the problem. They have no respect for lesser species either. They don't give the problem the attention it deserves as sick behavior. I know. I have a serial killer in my family and any screaming and crying that the rest of us did about the animal abuse our cousin did fell on deaf ears.

"It was only a stray cat. It would have died anyway."

"It's just a gopher. Who cares?"

I don't need to go on, do I?

[DenverDem]

5. It's just an Iraqi.

They would have died from the depleted uranium soon, anyway.