Educational Information on Animal Cruelty

Educate yourself and your family about animal cruelty.

It is important to educate yourself and your family about animal cruelty. Animal cruelty is a crime in 31 states and should be reported. Animal cruelty is not always intentional. It can be a sign of severe psychological problems in the perpetrator. Because of these issues, animal cruelty should not be taken lightly.

What is Animal Cruelty?

Animal cruelty includes various harmful actions against animals such as neglect and purposely causing physical harm. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), there are two kinds of neglect: simple neglect and gross, willful, cruel or malicious neglect. The first kind is unintentional. Animal cruelty includes ignorance of how to properly care for an animal. People can unintentionally harm animals because they lack knowledge about animals. However, according to St. Lawrence Valley Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA), "Intentional cruelty, or abuse, is knowingly depriving an animal of food, water, shelter, socialization, or veterinary care or maliciously torturing, maiming, mutilating, or killing an animal."

Signs of Animal Abuse

If you see or suspect that someone's animal is being abused, watch for the following abuse signs and red flags: limping, thinness, wounds, tick or flea infestations, no food and water bowls nearby or bowls that are consistently empty, and timidity or aggressiveness in the animal. Other signs of neglect or abuse: The animal is outside in poor weather, has patches in its fur and obviously lacks veterinary care.

Psychology of Animal Abusers

Intentional harm directed toward animals is a sign of serious psychological issues. A link between animal abuse and human abuse is recognized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). According to the ASPCA, infamous serial killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Andrew Cunanan, David Berkowitz and Albert DeSalvo started with abusing animals. Children who abuse animals should be taken to a psychologist immediately.

Educating Children

Children need to be aware of how to properly care for their pets. It is also important to teach your child about animal cruelty. You might suggest that your child's school should offer education on these topics. Children as young as 2 years old should be taught by parents how to handle and care for their pets. According to ASPCA, children should not be taught about animal cruelty until they are at least 6 years old, because they might not be emotionally ready to handle it.

Children between 6 and 14 should be taught about animal cruelty in a direct manner. Tell them the facts, how to handle it and why it is wrong. Stay away from the bloody and gory details of specific animal cruelty crimes and how they were done, because this might be emotionally tough or might even feed into morbid curiosity, according to the ASPCA.

Reporting Animal Cruelty

All cases of animal cruelty should be reported to the local police department. If you live in New York or New Jersey, you can report the case to the ASPCA. Children who abuse animals should be reported to the school principal, a psychologist, the parents and even the police. Unfortunately, animal cruelty is considered to be a felony in only 31 states. If you believe that an animal cruelty case was not handled properly, you should write to your local government with a protest.

References

• St. Lawrence Valley SPCA: Animal Cruelty
• Pet-Abuse
• ASPCA: Talking to Kids About Animal Cruelty
• ASPCA: Reporting Cruelty FAQ