ANIMAL CRUELTY LINKED TO HUMAN ABUSES

According to the FBI, “Acts of cruelty against animals are now counted alongside felony crimes like arson, burglary, assault, and homicide in the FBI’s expansive criminal database.

‘Some studies say that cruelty to animals is a precursor to larger crime,’ said Nelson Ferry, who works in the Bureau’s Criminal Statistics Management Unit, which manages NIBRS.

WHAT DOES ANIMAL ABUSE HAVE TO DO WITH HUMAN ABUSES, INCLUDING MURDER?

ANIMAL ABUSE LINKED TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, CHILD ABUSE, & MURDERS

The National Sheriffs’ Association was a leading advocate for adding animal cruelty as a data set in the Bureau’s collection of crime statistics.

The association for years has cited studies linking animal abuse and other types of crimes. Most famously, murders committed by serial killers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz.

The organization also points out the overlap animal abuse has with domestic violence and child abuse.

‘If somebody is harming an animal, there is a good chance they also are hurting a human,’ said John Thompson, deputy executive director of the National Sheriffs’ Association.”(1)

BIG ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

All the above leads to the question, what about farm animals? Why aren’t they protected or even considered in the equation above?

Have you ever wondered what it must be like to work in a slaughter house all day every day? Have you ever considered what it is that our society is paying others to do for us?

THE HUMAN TOLL

According to an article by James McWilliams, of Texas Observer, “The emerging literature, including a study by the University of Windsor, on the psychological effects of slaughterhouse work on humans is startling. It’s often said that consumers are disconnected from the meat we eat.

Rarely noted is the fact that the slaughterhouse is a site of unfathomable connectivity.

The most intimate and bloodstained bond between humans and the animals we consume is forged between nearly voiceless slaughterhouse workers and the animals they’re employed to kill.”

desensitized

According to a former worker, ” The worst thing, worse than the physical danger, is the emotional toll. If you work in the stick pit [where hogs are killed] for any period of time—that let’s [sic] you kill things but doesn’t let you care.

You may look a hog in the eye that’s walking around in the blood pit with you and think, ‘God, that really isn’t a bad looking animal.’ You may want to pet it.

Pigs down on the kill floor have come up to nuzzle me like a puppy. Two minutes later I had to kill them. … I can’t care.”

CONSEQUENCES

The article goes on to explain, ” It will come as no surprise that the consequences of such emotional dissonance include domestic violence, social withdrawal, drug and alcohol abuse, and severe anxiety.

As slaughterhouse workers are increasingly being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers are finally starting to systematically explore the results of killing sentient animals for a living.”

“Amy Fitzgerald, a criminology professor at the University of Windsor in Canada, has found a strong correlation between the presence of a large slaughterhouse and high crime rates in U.S. communities. ” (2)