KEY POINTS:
A stark reality faces this nation, one that we need to address together - we live in a violent society.
It is a growing evil that is invading our communities, our homes and our loved ones.
Much of it is headline material which shocks us every time an act of violence is revealed, as well it should. However, the full extent of cruelty in the community is not generally known.
That was dramatically emphasised with the release of the annual "list of shame" detailing 50 of the most horrendous cases of animal abuse investigated by the SPCA in the first nine months of this year.
In addition to some sickening cases of sheer neglect resulting in extreme animal suffering, the list also featured acts of violence of an alarming intensity including:
A dog hanged on a gum tree, a cat dumped in a 44 gallon drum of used oil, a litter of newborn puppies and a kitten pickled in four large jars, a pig doused with petrol and set alight by youths, a goat stabbed to death while grazing by the roadside, children repeatedly throwing two kittens into a swimming pool after they had been bounced vigorously on a trampoline. That is to name but a few.
It is this degree of cruelty, often administered by young people, that ignites a warning within us as to the degree of violence that really does exist, much of it from within the home environment.
Alarming figures support this premise, with over 55,000 children in New Zealand having witnessed family violence incidents requiring police intervention this year alone, with many involving cruelty to animals which they were forced to witness.
(Research indicates that children exposed to animal cruelty are almost three times more likely to commit a similar offence themselves.) Even more alarming is the well known evidence that first acts of cruelty are generally inflicted on animals (55 per cent) by those who move on to further acts of violence against people.
Research has also unearthed evidence that highlights the use of animals within the home environment as a form of emotional abuse against a partner or family in violent situations. In a study of offenders imprisoned for acts of domestic violence, 55 per cent admitted to hurting or killing family pets, 37 per cent having threatened to do so.
When such signs are so apparent within a home environment, any delay in responding to it places people and animals in danger, and not to do so is a crime in itself.
It is an interesting premise that animals within our community are not only fellow victims of cruelty, they are also signals to deeper violence, and possibly even liberators.
Some bold experiments have been undertaken in prisons involving inmates, many of them violent offenders, where sole charge is granted to them of an animal placed exclusively into their care. This programme operates on the premise that an empathy between the animal and the individual will generate a trusting relationship and an attachment between the two, with the result that the troubled, and even violent, mind of the perpetrator will refocus on a positive interrelation.
Where this programme has been undertaken positive results have ensued echoed in the observation of one inmate - "Having a dog [to care for] was like turning on a light in a dark place".
Clearly we must abhor cruelty to animals as indeed we should violence towards anyone in any shape or form, and we must focus on the families and children who are vulnerable to the violence that is likely to be inflicted on all of them. If we ignore the link we do so at our peril.
* Bob Kerridge is the chief executive, SPCA Auckland.
