By Nikoleta Karadimitropoulou

The shocking number of animal cruelty cases reported every day is just the tip of the iceberg—most cases are never reported. Unlike violent crimes against people, cases of animal abuse are not compiled by state or federal agencies, making it difficult to calculate just how common they are.

Reasons for Abuse

There are many different reasons why individuals abuse animals. Animal cruelty covers a wide range of actions, so one blanket answer simply isn’t possible. Each type of abuse has displayed certain patterns of behavior that we can use to help understand more about why people commit the crimes we encounter today.

Help end cruel animals tests

Dogs, cats, rabbits and many other animals still suffer pointless and painful procedures in the name of product testing. Some will undergo irritancy tests that cause severe chemical burns to their sensitive skin; others will be forced to ingest harmful chemicals that can lead to fatal poisoning. To study the “effects’, animals are often left to languish for days without pain relief. This tells us nothing about toxicity to humans. As a consumer, you have the power to help end this cruelty.

Animal Abuse & Pathology

• 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.
• Albert DeSalvo, the “Boston Strangler” who killed 13 women, trapped dogs and cats in orange crates and shot arrows through the boxes in his youth.
• Carroll Edward Cole, executed for five of the 35 murders of which he was accused, said his first act of violence as a child was to strangle a puppy.
• In 1987, three Missouri high school students were charged with the beating death of a classmate. They had histories of repeated acts of animal mutilation starting several years earlier. One confessed that he had killed so many cats he’d lost count. Two brothers who murdered their parents had previously told classmates that they had decapitated a cat.
• Columbine High School students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who shot and killed 12 classmates before turning their guns on themselves, bragged about mutilating animals to their friends.

If you spot someone harming an animal, don’t stay silent – there’s an easy way to tell the authorities.

Animals need your help!