Conference told animal cruelty may be early sign of criminal behaviour

ANIMAL CRUELTY among children can be an early warning of a propensity toward criminal behaviour, delegates were told at a conference in Dublin yesterday.

Dr Randall Lockwood, vice-president of training and initiatives for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), told delegates that a strong connection between harming animals and violence exists, with notorious serial killers such as Jeffrey Dahmer having established patterns of animal abuse.

Dahmer received a life sentence in the US in 1992 for killing and eating 17 people. As a child he used to cut off the heads of animals and put them on sticks.

Researchers and law enforcement agencies have linked animal cruelty to domestic violence, child abuse, serial killings and to the recent rash of killings by school age children, said Dr Lockwood.

“While there are many factors that contribute to someone becoming a serial killer, the one constant they share is animal abuse.”

Jimmy Cahill, general manager of the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which hosted the conference, said it was hoped the conference would assist gardaí, veterinary professionals and social services with animal cruelty investigations by providing information on how evidence can be collected and handled in a way that will withstand legal cross-examination.