Groups Discuss Animal Abuse, Link to Cruelty in Adults
By Patty Pensa, Staff Writer
Originally published in the Sun-Sentinel, November 4, 2001
Jeffrey Dahmer decapitated a dog when he was just a little boy. Years later, he killed and dismembered 17 people.
The Columbine shooters were known for capturing and torturing small animals. As seniors they burst into their school on April 20, 1999, with guns and bombs, killing 13 people, leaving 20 wounded and then killing themselves.
Those cases fit what statistics show is a strong correlation between boys harming animals and then other people.
Palm Beach County conducted "First Strike: Animal Cruelty/Human Violence" conference in West Palm Beach on Saturday to spread the word attacks on animals shouldn't be ignored.
"Statistics show that people who hurt animals are not nice people," said Randall Lockwood, vice president for research and education outreach with the Humane Society of the United States.
About one-third of animal abuse cases across the nation last year were committed by boys ages 13 to 18, he said.
About 20 percent of nonviolent offenders in Florida have committed acts of cruelty to animals. About 56 percent of violent offenders in Florida have done so, Lockwood said.
Carmen Ocasio, a guidance counselor with the Broward County School District, said she hasn't noticed cases of pet abuse and child abuse in families, but plans to watch for it.
Understanding, speakers said, must improve, especially in law enforcement officers.
The ideal, said Virginia Prevas, with the national Humane Society, is how the Broward County Sheriff's Office handles animal abuse cases: They treat them as they do all other crimes. Lt. Sherry Schlueter created a Special Victims and Family Crimes Section in Broward last year.
"Law enforcement officers do care about these issues, but they're not always supported by their organization," Schlueter said. "Most officers know little or nothing of the [animal protection] laws on the books. They get little or no training in animal abuse cases."
