April is Prevention of Animal Cruelty Month ~ Pawprints and Purrs, Inc.

Pawprints and Purrs, Inc.
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April is Prevention of Animal Cruelty Month

April is the ASPCA Prevention of Animal Cruelty Month. Did you know there is strong support for a correlation between violence towards animals and violence towards people? Pawprints and Purrs, Inc has joined with the ASPCA in letting others know about the link between animal and human abuse and ways to prevent animal cruelty.

Animal abusers fall into three groups. In the first group are people who abuse animals but don't do so intentionally. The next biggest group of animal abusers do it on purpose, but don't keep doing it for a long period of time. The last group of people who hurt animals are the worst. These are people who intentionally hurt animals because they enjoy hurting living beings, or because it makes them feel powerful.

Within the first group are people who don't realize what kinds of shelter different animals need or people who have so many pets that they can't care for them all. Since most of the people who abuse animals make up this group, this means most people who abuse animals can be helped with basic education.

The second group are ususally young people, and they hurt animals because they aren’t thinking, or because they can’t stand up to their friends and peer pressure. The ones who are aren’t really thinking might be mad at someone else (like their parents) and kick their pet dog because they can’t kick their parents. Or they may think it’s fun to watch an animal run away scared without really thinking about how the animal feels. The ones who are giving in to peer pressure might be trying to show off to their friends. Or they may be with a group of friends who are all trying to impress each other, and so they go along with what everyone else is doing. Intentionally hurting animals for any reason is serious. In most states, those caught doing this will face harsher punishment than those who hurt animals unintentionally. However, this group of people usually don’t hurt animals more than a few times. They learn to think about how others feel, and they learn to stand up for themselves. This group can be reached through education and support, too.

The third group of people who hurt animals are the worst. At least we can be happy to say that they’re also the least common. These are people who intentionally hurt animals because they enjoy hurting things, or because it makes them feel powerful. Many of these people would hurt other people if they could get away with it; they just choose to hurt animals because animals are more helpless than people.

Why do these people do this? There are different reasons. A lot of these people want to have control over others. They will hurt an animal because they think this means they control the animal. Or they may hurt the animal to control another person. For example, a husband might hurt the family’s pet to show his wife what he could do to her if she doesn’t obey his commands. Someone else might make his dog kill other dogs because he or his friends think that makes him powerful.

Others simply enjoy pain and violence. Those who enjoy violence might also destroy inanimate things as well as animals and people.

All of the people in this last group suffer from serious, psychological problems that will probably not go away on their own. They often need the help of licensed professionals - like a psychologist. We are not 100% sure why people become like this - most are probably born with their problems (even if the problem doesn’t come out right away), but others can get their problems from brain damage, poisonous environments, or being treated badly themselves. Without help, the psychological problems these people have can haunt them for their whole life.

If you know anyone who you think may be like this, don’t approach them yourself. Talk to a trusted adult, and let the adult find someone to help these people.

Be prepared to provide information on the cruelty that you witnessed. Write down what you saw happen, who was involved, the date of incident and where it took place. It's very important to inform the police because animal cruelty is illegal in all 50 states.

Courtesy of The ASPCA
424 East 92nd Street
New York, NY 10128-6804
Phone: 212-876-7700

Additional Information:

Animal Abuse Potential
Animal Cruelty Points to Potential for Violence Against Humans
How to Report Animal Abuse
Media Contacts for Animal Issues