Nonhumans among Us: Deliberate Cruelty
Playwright William Inge once described deliberate cruelty to our “defenseless and beautiful little cousins” as a mean and detestable vice. Animal cruelty at this level, however, is as much amoral as immoral and is often the sign of deep abnormal psychopathology.
“It is very clear to me that a person who has no regard for the life of a dog or cat will eventually show violence towards people, unless something is done early on,” City Prosecutor Doug Haubert said. “Many people attracted to the thrill of harming an animal will eventually escalate to hurting other people. Some people may say, ‘It’s just an animal.’ I respond by telling them, ‘It’s just the beginning.’ That is why I treat animal cruelty cases seriously.”
There are reams of research and case histories regarding individuals who started out by abusing animals and graduated to humans. The FBI, in fact, has recognized the connection between animal and human abuse since the 1970s, when they found that most serial killers had killed or tortured animals as children.
“Those who abuse animals for no reason are budding psychopaths,” said Dr. Randall Lockwood, psychologist and ASPCA’S senior vice president of anti-cruelty initiatives and legislative services. “They have no empathy and only see the world as what it’s going to do for them.” (Click here to read the full article.)
For animal lovers, the deliberate infliction of pain on anyone helpless is poisonously hateful, but to those who fall under the “It’s only an animal, why aren’t you concerned with people?” category, take a look at some of the mini-bios of the fine individuals here and then tell us that you don’t have a problem with animal cruelty.
(Warning: these are very, very sharp needles, indeed).
Albert De Salvo, the Boston Strangler, trapped dogs and cats in crates and shot arrows through them before going on to kill 13 women. Jeffrey Dahmer used animal cruelty as an appetizer before starting on the main course — young boys. High school killers Kip Kinkel, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had all tortured pets, and Brenda Spencer, who shot up a San Diego school from her home and killed two children, had abused dogs and cats. The little ditty written by Bob Geldof, then, with the Boomtown Rats explains a lot of it: “‘Cos there are no reasons.”
With all due respect to Geldof, there are other reasons besides having a few screws loose. Veterinarian Lisa Lembke, in her article “Bedwetting, Fire Setting and Animal Cruelty,” said that children who abuse animals are often abused themselves and have a greater chance of growing up to be abusers. She cited the actions mentioned in the title as a triad of research-based predictors of future adult violent behavior and psychosis. The fire torture of the cat last week involves perhaps two predictors.
The first animal-abuse registry, based on Megan’s Law, was recently unanimously approved in Suffolk County, N.Y. Based on research findings such as those described above, it’s designed to track offenders by requiring people convicted of cruelty to animals to register or face jail time and fines.
Meanwhile, if you can live with the idea of a cat being thrown screeching into a fire or a dog starved until he’s dead, think about whether you can handle the thought of your grandmother gutted like a fish. Then, tell us that animal abuse isn’t as important as human abuse.
Prosecution and Penalties
The tragic story of the pit bull, Blunt, and the efforts of then-Deputy City Prosecutor Doug Haubert (now head city prosecutor) and Councilman Ray Grabinski to get a stiffer penalty for the defendant has been chronicled in two Press-Telegram articles (“Man Pleads No Contest to Starving Dog to Death,” May 17, 2000, archived as ID: 0005170085; and “Man Who Starved Dog Is Going to Jail,” May 23, 2000, archived as ID: 0005230041). Haubert and Grabinski, along with an outraged community, were disgusted by the crime. The deputy prosecutor and the council member had wanted the maximum punishment, six months in jail, for the defendant, but the judge proposed only house arrest and three years probation. In Grabinski’s words, “so he kills a dog, and he gets a bracelet.”
Haubert continued to push for six months, and eventually Ingram was sentenced to three months in jail, 350 hours of community service, and 52 weeks of anger management counseling after it was found that Ingram was the “sole caregiver for his aged father,” which we find humorous in a gallows sort of way. We hope Dad did all right.
Today, Section 597 of the state’s penal code spells out the penalties for extreme cases of animal abuse and cruelty, including malicious or intentional torture or killing, but Haubert said that the law is a “felony-misdemeanor ‘wobbler,'” meaning that there is discretion to file either way. In the above-cited article by Lisa Lembke, the author was disturbed that “prosecutors and judges tend to do just that, dismissing violent acts of animal cruelty with tiny fines and light sentences — after all, it was only a cat. Repeated, overt acts of cruelty don’t happen in a vacuum — there is a very sick, potentially dangerous person behind them and very likely, a highly disturbed family, as well.”
On the other hand, Haubert said that there are cases in which penalties could be compounded, for example, dog fighting violates PC 597.5, and allowing any animal to be cruelly killed violates PC 597(b), so punishments could be added together for a dog’s death in a dog fight. Judges in Long Beach have doled out punishment in varying degrees to individuals convicted of a crime: An owner who severely neglected a black-and-white pit bull was fined $4,000 for the dog’s care in the shelter and received three years summary probation that barred him from owning or having contact with animals, and the juveniles who viciously beat and threw the aquarium animals got nine months in a juvenile camp for violent offenders along with 150 hours of community service and were barred from entering the aquarium.
When judges are on the ballot, if you have the time and the resources, check out their case decisions — it’s public record.
Be Proactive
Any animal abuse must be reported to ACS at 562-570-7387. you may request anonymity. If you’re seeking shelter from an abusive situation, do not leave your pet with the abuser. TuLynn Smylie, executive director of WomenShelter of Long Beach, said that most shelters don’t have the capacity to take in a pet unless he or she is a service animal. She suggests leaving your pet with a friend or colleague. For information on protecting your pet in an abusive situation, click here . Keep your pets indoors and, most importantly, teach your children kindness.
We thank ACS’s City Prosecutor Doug Haubert, John Keisler and Richard Cranston, and LBPD’s Lisa Massacani and Det. David Ternullo for their input and support in writing this article. We dedicate this to all victims of abuse, animal and human.
“After” photos of abused pets. Both were adopted. Shows what a little love can do.
Courtesy SPCA National
“I hope to make people realize how totally helpless animals are, how dependent on us, trusting as a child must that we will be kind and take care of their needs. …They are an obligation put on us, a responsibility we have no right to neglect, nor to violate by cruelty.“
~James Herriot
Tech Keeps Tight Leash on Pet Peeves
Go Long Beach’s smartphone app now makes it possible to report barking, defecation, off-leash animals, dead animal pickup or other violations. The mobile app allows smartphone users to upload photographs with their mobile phones and use GPS tracking technology to instantly report and address information to ACS for non-emergency issues.
“Using mobile phones to collect photographs, address information and time stamps moves the investigation process forward much more quickly,” said John Keisler, manager of Animal Care Services. “Residents may see violations that we are not there to see, but the application helps to bridge the gap.”
Keisler said that Long Beach’s animal care agency is one of the first to provide this service. iPhone users can download the app at the Apple Store, and Android users may download it from the Android Market.
ACS is grateful to the city technology team for building this new tool for residents and business owners. This is another strategy to increase efficiency in the city and to involve more residents, especially young people, in making Long Beach safer for people and animals. Go Long Beach is another tool to make government more efficient and responsive.