Children Who Abuse Animals
Amy Johnson
“One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a child is to kill or torture an animal and get away with it.” ~ Margaret Mead. We know that homes with family members who have domestic violence charges often have an animal abuser in the home. Sometimes those animal abusers are children. Statistics show that 6 ½ is the median age for the onset of harming animals…which is earlier than bullying others, acts of cruelty to people, vandalism or fire setting. For professionals, animal abuse by a child should be considered a warning that a child may be experiencing some form of psychological or physical distress.
The media has reported on serial killers’ initial practice with pets. Here is a short list of famous killers and their disturbing and sordid beginning.
- Jeffrey Dahmer is reported to have impaled and killed neighbor’s pets
- Patrick Sherril stole pets, tied them up and allowed his own dogs to mutilate them – later murdered 14 co-workers before killing himself
- David Berkowitz (Son of Sam) shot his neighbor’s Labrador retriever
- Albert DeSalvo (Boston Strangler) shot arrows into boxes of trapped cats and dogs
- Carroll Edmund Cole claimed his first violent act was strangling a puppy. Later he murdered 35 people
- Keith Hunter Jesperson (Happy Face Killer) began his life of violence by throwing a cat against the pavement and then strangling it to death
There are many more examples. While most serial killers have animal abuse or torture in common, the reverse is not necessarily true. Just because a child has abused an animal does not predict a future as a mass murderer. What we need to do is consider why children abuse animals. Frank Ascione is a pioneer in the research of linking animal abuse and domestic violence. He reports that children’s compassion towards animals is related to their empathy towards humans. He also found a strong correlation between those who have committed cruelty acts to animals with an impulsive character. I work with court adjudicated youth and approximately 30% of them have harmed an animal. Because most youth know that this is socially unacceptable, many abusers do it privately and deny their participation in these cruel acts.
Ascione’s work included interviewing youth who have committed acts of violence against their pets or other animals. Here is what they said:
- curiosity of exploration (usually by a young or developmentally delayed child)
- peer pressure (peers encourage as part of initiation)
- mood enhancement (ie relieves boredom)
- sexual gratification
- forced abuse (coerced into animal abuse by someone more powerful)
- attachment to animal (child kills to prevent torture by another)
- animal phobias
- identification with child’s abuser (victimized child trying to regain control)
- posttraumatic play
- imitation (copying parent’s discipline)
- self-injury (using animal inflict pain on his own body)
- rehearsal for interpersonal violence (practicing on pets before engaging in human violence)
- vehicle for emotional abuse (to frighten sibling, etc.)
For more information on this topic, please visit the Society and Animals Forum (formerly Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
Amy Johnson is a counselor, lecturer, founder, and program director of the non-profit organization, Teacher’s Pet: Dogs and Kids Learning Together.
I have disturbing memories that haunt me of abusing dogs in various horrible ways (including sexual ) from a very young age (never cats). I have never understood why I did these things.
I was not abused in any way as a child and I have always had lots of friends who, till today, do not know the things I have done. I’m now in my late 40s and am still trying to understand why I abused these sweet, trusting animals.
Your article caught my attention because or the opening “One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a child is to kill or torture an animal and get away with it.” ~ Margaret Mead. “Getting Away With It’ is the key phrase for me!
See, nobody ever knew what I did. (memories from age 2 to
until I got caught by my dad when I was eight years old.
I had gradually become bolder and more careless in my abuse, so when I was caught I was off guard and I recall feeling numb, like slowly waking from a bad dream. I remember my dad was shocked in a way that saddened me so much, and I did get in trouble. I don’t remember the punishment, but I vividly remember the disappointment and disgust in his face. That was the last day I ever abused an animal. I can’t put into words how thankful I am that I was caught.
As a child, getting away with such horrible acts is what allows the sickness to grow (whatever the sickness is). But a clever child in a healthy environment who knows they are doing wrong will hide such devious behavior very well. Where does my sickness comes from? I am still trying to figure it out. I just know I am lucky to have had a wonderful mom and dad who found me out and stopped me.
One other point is that as a younger child I remember feeling a sense of evil joy that was not really my own when imposing the abuse (like somebody had control of my mind and body). I always felt EXTREME guilt and emotional pain afterwards. I even remember crying from what I had done.
My boyfriend of two years and I moved in together over a year ago. He has a 50/50 custody agreement with his children’s mother so we have the kids on a normal basis. Shortly after moving in together, we rescued a yellow lab from the side of the road! She’s adorable, loving and simply wonderful! However, my boyfriend’s son who was at the time four, now five, has displayed troubling behavior towards her. Some of his actions include, pounding with a closed fist for no aparent reason, trying to push her down the stairs, and throwing rocks at her! We have recently adopted another dog, a beautiful great dane who is equally beautiful and adorable as her sister! I’m worried that she doesn’t have the same easy going temperment as our lab. She has growled in his face when he pulls and pinches her. I know this will result in her biting him. While I can’t blame her, I want to stop it before it happens.
However, my boyfriend seems to be more lax about the situation and occurrences of animal cruelty that his son has displayed towards our puppies. I have tried several different times to try to talk to my boyfriend anbout the situation. My boyfriend tries to ignore the notion that there’s something wrong. I’ve also tried talking to his son. His son, who can be very loving and affectionate to the dogs at times as well, says that he loves the puppies and he doesn’t know why he tries to hurt. I’ve tried talking about emotions and what to do when we feel different emotions like happiness, sadness and anger; also that all emotions are okay as long as you know what is okay to do when you feel certain ways. I’ve also tried explaining to him that anything that is not okay to do to a human is also unacceptable to do to an animal not only because there are consequences but because you are inflicting pain.
I’ve decided to do something about the issue myself without overstepping my bounds with my boyfriend. Is there any children’s literature available about how to treat animals and about respecting them as living things, etc?
I just had this conversation with a coworker today that as young teens or in our tweens we either witnessed or some shape of form tortured or killed an animal.
It’s extremely common for this to happen with males around that age.
It’s only my opinion that we did it as a way to explore what was happening to us as growing masculine men. Like a baby openin it’s eyes for the first time the feeling of becoming masculine is beyond alien to us. Apart of that is caveman bullsh*t like displaying our physical strength and demonstrating to ourselves and others that we can mess things up and how.
Of course as we grew older and mature we realized that what happened seemed and is bizarre and wrong.
I think the people that do these things in methodical ways or just to continue to do these things obviously dont mature or their maturity is severely delayed and need to seek professional help.
ive read this article and i can deeply sympathize with jessie lee our stories are very similar except i showed this paraphilia of mine to a friend at the time i was about 12 or 13 he ended up telling our other friends and i was tortured and tormented by these friends because of it word traveled around school and i was further tormented by my peers it was a horrible thing i did and i payed the price now being in my 20s diagnosed with bi polar and personality disorder i am just coming to terms with what i did the pain i have felt because of it still stays with me and i will never hurt another animal ever again because of it