Why do some of us enjoy torturing animals? And is there a way out of such darkness?
A seven-year-old client was referred recently to me for throwing a puppy in the air a few times and laughing at its shrieks — until the pup fell down on the ground. At that time, the pup’s mother arrived and the kid ran away. The child had no apparent explanation for the 'fun' in it and then denied that he did it, blaming others in the park.
It is difficult to understand the kid’s behaviour because instinctively, we treat babies as special, protecting them, enabling them to survive. Universally, we find the babies of animals cuter, more innocent and attractive than their parents. As is the case with human infants.
Coming back to the client, it was perplexing to see a baby animal being harmed by a child — who himself is in the innocent developmental stage. However, looking closer at the inputs provided by his teachers, parents, the child's schedule, academic record and other factors, the pattern of behaviour issues became more apparent.
The child was disrespectful and showed disregard for the teacher's instructions, was consistently non-compliant and had added issues of reading difficulties and poor academic performance — this was apparently because the child felt neglected owing to absentee parents for most parts of the day.
Although these factors link to other larger problems of behaviour and academic struggles, this child probably behaved the way he did because no one was there to talk about how much the animal gets hurt and frightened or to have a conversation with him about the whole idea of how he even thought of doing such a thing.
Stories from around the world today show a rampant incidence of Intentional Animal Torture and Cruelty (IATC).
For instance, the Australian who filmed himself running over emus — the world's tallest and fastest birds.
One newspaper explained that he purposely mowed them down, one after another. In the background, he can be heard shouting expletives before turning the camera on himself, laughing and shouting "Yes!"
In another report from Delhi came news of the shocking incident when as many as seven puppies were found dead under mysterious circumstances inside an apartment complex, triggering allegations that they were killed by the residents.
Connection To Other Psychopathic Behavior
It is unlikely that the people who indulge in IATC show traits of deviance only with animals — research on domestic violence reveals that a large number of animals are targeted by those who abuse their children or spouses. 71 per cent of domestic violence victims reported that their abuser also targeted pets, as suggested in a survey.
The first question that comes instinctively is why would someone inflict such pain on a helpless and harmless animal? A study on childhood experiences of psychopaths by Marshall and Cooke revealed two distinct factors — familial and societal — both of which were highly correlated with adult psychopathy scores. These results indicate a connection between the experiences psychopaths have in childhood, and their influence on the adult outcome.
Robert Agnew explained in the article The Causes of Animal Abuse — A Social-Psychological Analysis, published in the journal Theoretical Criminology, that the first cause is ignorance about the abusive consequences of our behaviour for animals, the belief that abuse is justified, and the perception that abuse is personally beneficial. Second, a set of factors including individual traits, like empathy, the individual's socialisation, the individual's level of strain or stress, level of social control, the nature of the animal under consideration, and the individual's social position, together determine the behaviour of the abuser.
Other studies have explained the third — and worst — reason.
They enjoy hurting things — because it makes them feel powerful. They simply enjoy pain and violence. This group of people suffer from serious psychological problems that will probably not go away on their own. Psychological intervention is essential for them.
Psychopathology is thus one likely cause of animal abuse — but what causes psychopathology?
Rebecca Waller, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, and her co-authors took advantage of an unusual data set in which a sample of 731 two-year-olds and their mothers were followed through the age of nine and a half years. The researchers noted that parental characteristics, attitudes, child-rearing practices, are the main risk factors — but these can be changed to maximise a child's chances of overcoming personality traits destined to lead to problems later in life.
Clearly, there is a connection between psychopaths and their common history of parental abuse, brutality and neglect, besides the lack of love, bonding, compassion, care and concern, the most essential psychosocial, emotional needs. This is especially true of IATC where the purpose is deriving pleasure from an animal’s pain.
Prevention and Cure
As understood, most follow-ups of psychopaths indicate the presence of a disturbed and violent childhood. A plethora of research has time and again identifed the risk factors at home that include socio-emotional deprivation.
If childhood experiences determine the development of psychopathic traits, is it not good news? After all, the possibility of prevention exists! If parental characteristics and/or care-giving practices are influencing a child’s pathology and general mental health — this ought to be a prime concern of policymakers for women, families and child welfare. The vaccination that each pregnant woman needs, along with her partner, is indeed a compulsory module on building emotional attachment with the baby. Once the baby is born, the second dose — on appropriate rearing, building connections, expressing love, etc. — ought to be given to parents in order to properly effect parental care. Similarly, another dose at the next significant developmental stage — starting school, then attaining puberty — can work wonders in raising emotionally balanced individuals.
An urgent appel thus to policymakers to pay attention and save the lives of both abusers and victims, both humans and animals, and the children of both.