Luke Woodham’s self-described ”first kill” was his pet dog, Sparkle; a year later, in 1998, he murdered his mother and two schoolmates in Mississippi at age 17. Woodham was not the first serial killer to target animals and, since the 1970s, research by criminologists has found links between violence against humans and cruelty to animals.
Domestic abuse has also been linked to animal cruelty. In 1997, 85% of women and 63% of children in 50 of the largest shelters for battered women in the United States had experienced pet abuse in their family.
But is this research relevant in South Africa? ”Why should South Africa be any different from anywhere else, especially since we have some of the highest violence statistics in the world?” asks David Thorpe, a National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) educator.
Research in South Africa suggests a relationship between animal cruelty and violence generally. A 1999 study among 117 South African prisoners found evidence of a relationship between childhood animal abuse and violence against people. Over half of the perpetrators of aggressive crimes admitted to earlier cruelty to animals. In contrast, only 10% of the inmates who had committed non-aggressive crimes had been cruel to animals.
”Abusers display a lack of empathy plus pleasure in something that can’t hurt back,” explains Lisa Vetten, of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation. She says that, regardless of whether the target of violence is a human or an animal, ”[their] pleasure is from a sense of power, not caring.”
Animal abusers are likely to ”cross the species line” and hurt humans because animal abuse is indicative of deeply rooted violent tendencies, argues People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) in a booklet entitled Animal Abuse and Human Abuse: Partners in Crime. ”A batterer’s first target is often an animal living in the home, the second — a spouse or child,” reports Peta.
The Humane Society of the United States lists additional explanations for why domestic abusers hurt animals. These reasons include the desire to demonstrate power and control over the family, to isolate the adult victim, and children, to force the family to keep violence a secret, to degrade the victim or to prevent family members from leaving or make them return.
The NSPCA in South Africa recently launched the First Strike campaign to highlight the connection between human and animal abuse. The campaign draws on the experience of the Humane Society, which initiated a First Strike campaign in the US in 1997. Through the campaign, the NSPCA hopes to identify solutions to the joint problems of human and animal abuse.
Dr Magdie van Heerden, who lectures on social work and animal-assisted therapy, says most therapists, counsellors and vets do not know there is a link between these kinds of violence and are not on the lookout for their symptoms. In the US, the First Strike campaign has resulted in laws that require animal and social welfare organizations to co-ordinate their efforts to combat abuse. Van Heerden believes there is a need for more humane education which involves developing a sense of compassion, justice and respect for animals among learners. The Humane Education Trust has worked with some public schools in the Western Cape to include humane education in their curriculum.