Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Cruelty to Animals-The Link.
The idyllic image of the family as relatively immune from violence, a place of refuge or a safe harbor, where a loving family provides nurturance, sustenance, and care is not a reality for many children. Each year over one thousand children die as a result of abuse or neglect and many others are physically, sexually, or emotionally abused and neglected.
The co-occurrence of domestic violence, child abuse, and animal cruelty is a significant societal problem. Domestic partnership violence may take the form of emotional and verbal abuse or escalate into ongoing episodes of physical battering and include threats of violence or sadistic cruelty to animals. Cruelty to animals is repeatedly found in homes with domestic violence and is a problem requiring attention, intervention, and prosecution. Cruel treatment to animals causes pain, distress, suffering, and even death. Animal cruelty often involves an intention to harm and the abuser may derive satisfaction from the act of inflicting pain or from dominating the animal.
Given the unique and loving connections often made between children and animals, animal cruelty can lead to profound emotional consequences for the children. Children who witness abuse and terrorizing of companion animals, threatened abuse, or the actual killing or mutilation of pets at the hands of their perpetrators may empathically suffer with the animal, endure suffering from their helplessness and inability to protect the pet, experience the abuse as intimately directed toward them, or may be at risk for repeating the abuse they experienced.
Animals have been harmed in retaliation against intimate partners and the reluctance to leave a battering spouse has been linked to a concern for the welfare of animals left behind in the home. For this reason, many jurisdictions have developed programs connected with domestic violence shelters that enlist volunteers or local animal shelters to provide safe refuge for the family pets. Animals may be viewed as objects or property by some individuals or as companions that are sentient beings by others. Those who provide companionship may be transitional objects for young children as they develop caring relationships.
In a 1999 survey of domestic violence shelters the majority of families indicated the presence of pets within the home. Based on the 72 families who participated in the survey, over two-thirds reported animal cruelty within the home with 68% reporting explicit violence toward the pets. However, of those who reported no animal abuse, coercive threats to kill the animals or release them were made by the batterers in several cases. The types of abuse included kicking, hitting or punching, torture, mutilation, beheading, and killing. Over half the children who had witnessed the violence later engaged in similar behaviors.
Shelter workers and helping professionals are encouraged to ask questions regarding the presence of animals within the home, concerns about their welfare, and whether anyone has threatened to harm or harmed an animal in the past. Asking about witnessing acts of animal cruelty is also recommended.
Exhibiting cruelty to animals is a strong signal in a child's life and evidence continues to mount associating the abusive behaviors with violence expressed toward other humans and non-human animals. Expressing this kind of behavior is a warning sign. Studies of violent adult criminals and psychiatric patients have reported significant rates of severe animal abuse in childhood and scores of anecdotal reports citing explicit histories of animal cruelty and torture among serial and mass murderers have been offered. Young murderers may initially practice their behaviors on animals prior to killing human beings. Continued studies on the link between animal cruelty and later violent behavior will help frame effective prevention and intervention programs.
Cross-disciplinary intervention programs and interagency collaboration is the suggested mode of responding to cases of animal cruelty and family violence. The combined involvement of law enforcement, veterinarians, physicians, domestic violence shelters, animal shelters, animal control officers, mental health practitioners, child protective service workers, and animal welfare groups may be needed to begin the process of animal cruelty identification, risk assessment, intervention, and prevention. The non-profit organization Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has developed an innovative counseling program for those who abuse animals and provides training materials for professionals (www.psyeta.org).
Legislative efforts focused on updating the animal cruelty laws
also prove promising. For example, some have argued that sexual
abuse of animals should be reclassified as "interspecies sexual
assault" because of the similarities to sexual abuse of children.
Legislative action has already changed responses to domestic
violence in
The significant link between violent behavior and cruelty to animals is an important component in providing services to children who have witnessed or participated in acts of cruelty. Mobilization of services of identify, assess and intervene in the cycle of violence will prevent further abuse and begin to establish roads to recovery. For all of us involved in creating a more compassionate society and preventing this cycle of violence, I will close with a favorite saying from the Jewish Talmud: It is not our responsibility to finish the work but we are not free to walk away from it. I wish you well in all your efforts.
Barbara Lipinski, Ph.D., author of Heed The Call: Psychological
Perspectives on Child Abuse (2001).
www.pacificmeridiancenter.com/heedcall.html
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