Animal Cruelty and Family Violence

Because domestic abuse is directed toward the powerless, animal abuse and child abuse often go hand in hand. Parents who neglect an animal's need for proper care or who abuse animals may also abuse or neglect their children. Some abusive adults who know better than to abuse a child in public have no such qualms about abusing an animal publicly. In 88 percent of 57 New Jersey families being treated for child abuse, animals in the home had been abused. Of 23 British families with a history of animal neglect, 83 percent had been identified by experts as having children at risk of abuse or neglect. While animal abuse is an important sign of child abuse, the parent isn't always the one harming the animal. Children who abuse animals may be repeating a lesson learned at home; like their parents, they are reacting to anger or frustration with violence. Their violence is directed at the only individual in the family more vulnerable than themselves: an animal. One expert says, "Children in violent homes are characterized by...frequently participating in pecking-order battering," in which they may maim or kill an animal. Indeed, domestic violence is the most common background for childhood cruelty to animals.