Tracking the link between animal abuse and domestic violence
Published Monday March 23rd, 2009
Study | Those who abuse animals can also hurt people
People who are cruel to animals are likely to employ the same behaviour against humans, says a St. Thomas University professor.
Don Robinson, who teaches a program called animal rights consciousness and experimentation at STU, said one of the elements examined during the course is the attitude prevalent in society towards animals.
Robinson said a theory called the graduation hypothesis says people who are cruel to animals - especially when they're young - graduate towards violence against humans.
"The most recent literature that I've seen suggests that people who are cruel to animals are cruel to people throughout their lives," Robinson said.
His comments follow the latest reports of animal cruelty in New Brunswick. A large number of dogs was rescued recently from adverse living conditions in the northern part of the province.
No link, however, has been established to suggest domestic abuse occurred in the most recent cases.
Robinson said social workers are being encouraged to be more alert.
"If they have signs of animal abuse in a family, they should be extra cautious and careful in looking for signs of child abuse and spousal abuse."
A 2001 collaborative study in Calgary found that 56 per cent of surveyed women in emergency shelters who had pets reported that their partner had either threatened, hurt or killed their pet. Twenty per cent of respondents were aware that their abuser hurt animals as a child.
Carmen Gill, the director of the Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence in Fredericton, said some abusers use animals as a way to control their spouse. Society needs to be aware that animals are part of the domestic violence circle, she said.
"They are not just animals, they are family members as well," Gill said. "At the moment we know this (abuse) exists. It means that when there is a domestic violence situation and there are animals in the home, we need to take care of them."
Robinson, meanwhile, said scientific literature on the connection between animal and domestic abuse only started coming out over the last 10 or 20 years.
Robinson said it makes him physically sick whenever he hears about animal cruelty cases. He said he also gets angry when he sees how lenient abusers are generally treated by the law that currently views animals as property.
Robinson said he's a huge supporter of a private member's bill being pushed by Ontario MP Mark Holland.
Holland's bill would move animal cruelty provisions out of the property crimes section of the Criminal Code and extend protection to strays and wildlife, not just domestic animals.
The legislation would increase penalties, as well as include provisions for wounding or killing police dogs and horses.
Holland believes that if the people were charged with the crimes they have committed against animals, it would reduce incidents of domestic violence.
The bill, however, has yet to make it to the floor of the House of Commons
"I keep crossing my fingers and hoping it will eventually get passed," Robinson said. "(If it doesn't), people will continue to get away with beating puppies to death with shovels and starving their cattle to death."
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I think its strange how much money organizations raise when its abused animals. I respect animals and respect those that look after them. I am also ashamed when society puts more effort into those animals than they do looking after people.
But there are a lot of people who are blind to this information, or who choose to ignore the signs of abuse in people or animals as coming from a seriously sick person.
People often ignore signs of abuse in another for fear of retribution by the abuser, and should have some sort of hotline where they can be sure they won't be identified if they provide a lead to an abusive situation - whether people or animals.
Perhaps the money spent on this study could have been used to fund a hotline, similar to Crime Stopper?