In Time, These Fiends Seek Human Prey
Humane societies across the country were sending out their annual Halloween press releases this week. Keep your cats inside on this spooky holiday, they urge, and with good reason. Some people, spurred on by who knows what kind of demons, maim and kill cats on Oct. 31.
Unfortunately, all too often animal abuse is shrugged off by law enforcement officials, even in the face of horrific violence. Those who disregard it argue - truthfully - we are overwhelmed with cases of crimes against people. Yet we ignore it at our own (and the animals’) peril. Violence toward animals has long been recognized as an indicator of a violent psychopathology that does not confine itself to animals. Acts of cruelty toward animals can be the first sign of a violent pathology that includes humans.
“Murderers … very often start out by killing and torturing animals as kids,” says Robert K. Resler, who developed profiles of serial killers for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI has found a history of cruelty to animals is one of the traits that regularly appears in its computer records of serial rapists and murderers. To psychiatrists, too, a fascination with cruelty to animals is a red flag in the lives of serial rapists and killers. The standard diagnostic and treatment manual for psychiatric and emotional disorders lists cruelty to animals as a diagnostic criterion for conduct disorders.
The majority of inmates on death row at San Quentin penitentiary, according to the warden, “practiced” their crimes on animals. Statistics compiled by a researcher at Yale University show a staggering 80 percent of convicted violent criminals have histories of abusing animals.
History is replete with notorious examples: Patrick Sherrill, who killed 14 coworkers at a post office and then shot himself, used to steal local pets and allow 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.
As a child, Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler” who killed 13 women, trapped dogs and cats in orange crates and shot arrows through the boxes.
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer impaled dogs’ heads, frogs and cats on sticks.
Richard Allen Davis, the man convicted of kidnapping Polly Klaas from her bedroom and murdering her, reportedly set cats on fire and used dogs as targets to practice knife-throwing.
Recently in Toledo, Ohio, it was revealed a man convicted of murder for burying a friend alive once killed a kitten by burying her in sand. According to his half-brother, he often tortured and killed dogs, cats and birds.
It’s a long and gruesome list, unpleasant to read. But we must not ignore the evidence. Many of these criminals’ childhood violence went unexamined until it was directed toward humans. If someone had taken the animal abuse seriously, much violence could have been prevented. 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.”
Anyone who witnesses animal abuse should report it to local law enforcement authorities immediately. Aggressively prosecuting those who abuse animals will spare both humans and animals from suffering and death.
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