In introducing this bill, Lantos said, "Violence against animals can no longer be overlooked as meaningless and instead must be recognized as a marker of serious psychological problems that frequently lead to violence against people."

Not News to Animal Lovers
Animal advocates have been aware of this for years, and one cannot help but feel that the many articles and web pages on the subject in the past few years have finally made an impact. Three years ago, shortly after the Olivia burning and the Noah's Ark cat killings, Jana Faucher initiated a campaign to make cruelty to animals a felony under federal law.

However, the impetus to Congressman Lanto's action seems to be the recent spate of school shootings. Landis goes on to say, "Those children involved in the school shooting weren't just 'having fun' or 'just being boys' - they were engaged in torturing and hurting animals. As a society, we cannot overlook the fact that a person who hurts animals is committing an act of violence and may eventually turn on human beings. The consequences of ignoring this link are far too serious. It is ridiculous to turn the other cheek to violence against animals."

Kids don't stop when they grow up.
In 1999, Russell Weston shot two police officers at the U.S. Capitol. He had 'practiced' by killing 13 cats belonging to his father. Many adult serial killers were first abused as children; then redirected that abuse toward animals, later toward their wives and children, and finally toward killing total strangers.

The 1990s abounded in such stories, from the burning of a cat named by college students in 1997, to the disturbing history of the two young men who shot the Columbine students and sent the whole country reeling into shock. Were the 90s any worse in terms of intentional violence toward animals than any other decade of the last century? Probably not. However, our recognition of these horrors has increased exponentially with the explosion of the World Wide Web onto the scene. In no other times have humans so strongly felt the shrinking of the world and the subsequent awareness of events that go on throughout this planet.

The Awful Connection
With our increased awareness, we have also discovered that there is a terribly frightening connection between cruelty toward animals as children and violent crimes toward humans later in life. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has this to say:

Researchers, as well as the FBI and other law enforcement agencies nationwide, have linked animal cruelty to domestic violence, child abuse, serial killings, and to the recent rash of killings by school-age children, according to Dr. Randall Lockwood, vice president of Training Initiatives for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).

In a study of 57 families being treated for incidents of child abuse, 88% also abused animals. In two-thirds of the cases, it was the abusive parent who had killed or injured the animals to control a child. In one-third, the children had abused the animals, using them as scapegoats for their anger. (Quoted from The American Humane Association)

It is hoped that universally stronger animal abuse laws will help intervene with young people to prevent their continuing on the path to adult violence. In the meantime it behooves all of us to watch for and report animal abuse in every instance where we observe it.

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