The Cruelty Connection

There are definite links between animal cruelty and human violence. Some key findings include:

• Violent offenders often have histories of serious and repeated animal cruelty in their childhood and adolescence.
  
• Cruelty to animals is widely recognized as a warning sign that a child may need help to prevent further violence.
  
• Family pets are often targets in domestic violence, and threats of violence toward a pet are often used as a means of control by an abusive spouse.
  
• Many victims of domestic violence remain in an abusive situation out of concern for the safety of their pets or livestock.

Deliberate cruelty to animals is a form of violence. Besides being harmful to a living creature capable of suffering and feeling pain, intentional animal cruelty can be one of the earliest and most dramatic indicators that an indivicual is developing a pattern of seeking power and control by inflicting suffering on others.