Abuse

Abuse

“Brenda Spencer fired forty shots at San Diego school children, fatally wounding two and injuring nine others, neighbors later informed police that Spencer had repeatedly abused dogs and cats often setting their tails on fire” (Finch 1). The situation of Spencer of abuse at a young age and carried on through her adult life. “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 abuse animals may also abuse or neglect their own children. Some abusive adults who know better than to abuse a child in public have no such qualms about abusing an animal publicly”(PETA). At an early age children are effected throughout their lives by images and situations, and are very fragile in their way of thinking. The emotional impact of right and wrong are very important to the children’s attitude.

The harsh images children see when they are young, forces the child to react to images in different ways. The situation of abuse from parents or siblings to a young child can bring out rage, and anger to others or to defenseless animals. Parents have a strong duty to their children when they are at an age of not knowing how to control their actions, and still learning how to express their emotions in a positive way. There are many tips for parents to learn how to control their abuse towards their children. Many times children are not taught properly by their parents and then they impersonate their parents do, such as hitting to solve problems and hurting others to raise self esteem. The children need good role models to tell them what they see is wrong, or right. The Abuse children go through or see when they are young could lead to a child needing to visit a therapists throughout the course of their adult lives. The situation of Brenda Spencer exhibits how much of an impact that animal abuse has on their lives as an adult if the child isn’t corrected when they were younger.

The impact of animal abuse shows many different situations of people that have been effected by this problem. “Alberto Desalvo, the self-confessed Boston Strangler who killed thirteen women had, as a youth, trapped dogs and cats in orange crates and shot arrows through the boxes” (Finch 1). Another perpetrator of animal abuse is a man named “Carroll Edward Cole, executed in 1985, who was one of the most prolific killers in modern history, his first act of violence as a child was to strangle a cat”(Mead1).

There have been many studies that have taken place to understand if the cause of later abuse happens from the abuse from an early age. “Deviney, Dickert, and Lockwood studied fifty seven families being treated by New Jersey’s Division of Youth and Family Services for incidents of child abuse. In eighty eight percent of these families, animals in the home had also been abused, usually by the parent. Another study was taken by “James Hutton who reviewed the animal cruelty reports for one community in England of the twenty three families with a history of animal abuse, eighty three percent had been identified by human social service agencies as having children at risk of abuse or neglect”(Finch 1). Abuse in the homes from the parents to the children, reflects on the situations that are happening in the households.

The comparisons of the adult killers, and abusers to the young children shows many of the same problems. The problem of the killers is that when they were younger they weren’t taught the difference of what was right and wrong. Adult killers have more of a problem because it would be very hard to change their ways of abuse. Young children that show signs of abuse towards animals need to be corrected immediately after the act of violence. Parents are the ones that need to help out the youth, and correct the ways of violence in their children. The situation of right and wrong needs to be instilled in the children’s minds, so the acts of violence stops.

The abuse that is shown at such a young age causes many problems throughout the years of the children’s life, and is affected by the abuse of others throughout their lives. Children that use abuse in their daily lives and are not told if the situation is right or wrong, can damage their life forever. The images of right and wrong will stay with them throughout their adult life, if the parents instill the morals at a young age. If children abuse the animals at such a young age, they will grow up abusing other humans, and animals. The cycle of abuse is very harsh, and strong if the cycle isn’t broken by parents and it will lead the children to abusing animals and then killing, and hurting people in the later years of their life. The law that has been passed to help prevent the harsh situations of abuse was “in 1993, California became the first state to pass a law requiring animal control officers to report child abuse. Voluntary abuse-reporting measures are also on the books in Ohio, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C., and similar legislation has been introduced in Florida.” The research shows that “pet abuse is a warning sign of abuse to the two-legged members of the family," says the bill’s sponsor, Representative Steve Effman. "We can’t afford to ignore the connection any longer.”(Arkow 23). There are many steps that are being put into action to help the spread of abuse in the families, and furthering on in the future.

The laws and regulations for child abuse are extremely supportive for helping out the youth, and parents. Setting laws for the youth, and parents of the children that are the abusers set good examples. Many people that aren’t abusers need to stay together and look out for warning signs, of abuse in the households. The warning sings that you need to look for are: 1.To Urge your local school and judicial systems to take cruelty to animals seriously. Laws must send a strong message that violence against any feeling creature—human or other-than-human—is unacceptable. 2. Be aware of signs of neglect or abuse in children and animals. Take children seriously if they report animals’ being neglected or mistreated. Some children won’t talk about their own suffering but will talk about an animal’s. 3.Don’t ignore even minor acts of cruelty to animals by children. Talk to the child and the child’s parents. If necessary, call a social worker. These steps are extremely important to learn are extremely important to learn, and understand that it is possible to make a difference. Animal rights is very important, and the traits of children that abuse animals when they are young, to the adult killers.

The groups that help prevent the abuse of animals are strong, and help prevent the abuse. There are mission projects that are for family violence, and the connection it has with animal abuse. The mission projects “the Community Coalition on Family Violence, the Animal Abuse Task Force recognizes that animal abuse often occurs in an environment in which family members are suffering abuse. Their mission is to identify the needs of animals that are not being adequately met; to garner resources to meet those needs, and to integrate our efforts with those of other organizations, including law enforcement, that work on issues of family and animal welfare”(Community of Coalition). The services that are provided are helpful to the ending of animal abuse, and the ending of children becoming harmful to society in their adult life.