Trigger warning: This article discusses violence related to animal cruelty
¨Never believe that animals suffer less than humans. Pain is the same for them as it is for us. Even worse, because they cannot help themselves.¨ – Louis J Camuti, A veterinarian & The ¨Cat¨ Doctor
In all our lives, we have endured the beloved animals we see everyday to ones outside the streets thrown away for that matter. From pigeons to dogs, from cats to pigs and cattle, animals are always around us. I recently came upon an article where baby pigs were being abused in a malevolent way in a farm factory located in Germany. I thought to myself ¨How can one be able to achieve this type of abuse on a helpless animal?¨ It didn’t make sense to me. These were tiny animals who depended on humans for survival, yet they were being treated like objects instead of living beings.
But the sad truth is that animal cruelty doesn’t only happen far away in other countries or behind closed doors. It happens right in our own neighborhoods. Dogs left chained outside in freezing temperatures. Cats being abandoned when families move. Wildlife hit by cars and left suffering on the side of the road. Sometimes cruelty isn’t violence, sometimes it’s neglect.
The Psychological Factors
A major part of understanding animal cruelty is looking at the psychology behind the people who do it. Psychologists have studied for years what drives a person to harm an animal. One major explanation for it is the need for control. Some people feel powerless in their own lives, so they take it on something weaker than them. Hurting an animal gives them a fake sense of power especially if they grew up in a home where violence was normal.
Psychologists say a lack of empathy is the core of cruelty. Empathy is the ability to understand what someone else is feeling. If a person lacks empathy, they might not even consider that an animal is hurting. This is true for people raised in environments where violence was normal. When someone grows up watching another person explode over the smaller things, it is easy for them to repeat that same behaviour without realizing how damaging it is. There are also people driven by curiosity but in a dark way. Some individuals, even younger kids who aren’t taught properly may experiment on animals because they’re trying to understand the world but don’t realize they’re causing pain. On a bigger scale, society plays a part in it too. We live in a world where industries hide the worst of what they do to animals. Most people never see inside factory farms or research labs. As long as they dont see it, they dont think about it. This ¨Out of sight, out of mind¨ mentality allows cruelty to continue quietly.
A Darker Connection
One part of animal cruelty is the connection to violence towards people. According to the FBI, The link between animal cruelty and human violence, hurting animals isn’t always just someone ¨being cruel.¨ It can be a warning sign of something bigger, a more dangerous behavior in fact. In many homes where pets are abused, the people living there like kids and partners are being hurt too. Not only does the violence not just stop at the animal but it can spread throughout the entire household.
People who work in law enforcement have found that animal abuse shows up again in houses dealing with domestic violence or child abuse. In many of these situations, the animal becomes the first target because it can’t fight back or tell anyone what’s happening. This can be heart breaking but pets are often used as a way to scare or control the people living in the home. However, researchers who study human behavior have noticed a pattern. A lot of people who commit violent crimes later in life often started by hurting animals when they were younger. That doesn’t mean every kid who mistreats an animal will become dangerous but it does mean that repeated cruelty can signal a serious problem with empathy and emotional control.
The bigger message
When we understand the psychology behind why people hurt animals or why people do what they do, it becomes clear that it’s not just about ¨bad people doing bad things.¨ It’s about deeper issues such as lack of empathy, emotional struggles, and learned behavior that gets passed through families and communities. Animals end up being the victims not because they did anything wrong but because they are the easiest targets for people who feel powerless, angry or disconnected from others that they feel they need to be the most powerful at. At the end of the day, animals can’t speak for themselves. They can’t ask for help or explain what’s happening to them. That responsibility falls on us, whether it’s choosing kindness, taking action, or simply paying attention, the smallest choices can make a huge difference. The way we treat animals and any human behind on this planet can reflect who we are as people.
