Animal abuse must be taken more seriously

Abuse is abuse. Violence is violence. And it should be treated that way. It needs to be taken seriously when it is noticed in small ways because abuse escalates, and it often starts with the victims that can’t report it.

Cruelty to pets is frequently seen to be a predictor of more violent and serious incidents.

Animal abuse is frequently seen to be a predictor of more serious incidents.

The FBI points to cruelty to animals as being tied to other behavior.

Children who hurt pets can be the same kids who participate in bullying or aggressive behavior toward others.

Hurting animals is part of a pattern of action seen in those who grow up to be serial killers.

It is also common in domestic abuse. Someone who has no problem kicking a dog or starving a cat can also be comfortable treating family members the same way — beating a wife, starving a child.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, as many as 83% of women entering domestic violence shelters reported an abusive partner hurt or killed a pet. With child abuse, it goes up to 88%.

That is a horrific math problem, a terrible Venn diagram.

Nine out of 10 abused children live in a house where they have seen the same thing happen to the family dog or cat or other animal.

Last week Keith Dale Lilly Jr., 31, of New Kensington was charged with cruelty to animals and neglect of animals. Teresa Lynn Fetterman, 24, was charged with neglect of animals.

Thismay mean little to the couple in the great scheme of things.

Westmoreland County prosecutors are already pursing the death penalty for Lilly in the April homicide of Fetterman’s son Mikel, 2. The mother faces involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and other charges.

Criminal complaints in the animal abuse cases show police were called in March, at the same time abuse of the toddler was being investigated.

During an interview with police about the boy’s assault but before his death, Fetterman said she heard Lilly hurt the dog when it did something bad and that she thought that was normal.

It is never normal to whip an animal so badly that a leg has to be amputated, as police indicate.

It is likewise not normal for a 2- year- old to go into cardiac arrest or to suffer a variety of injuries including fractures in various stages of healing, a brain bleed and hemorrhaging eyes.

The case is still being tried. No one has been found or pleaded guilty, and we do not mean to suggest otherwise.

But how individuals and authorities and society at large look at and address allegations of violence in its early stages could help head off so much pain and suffering.

If we started acknowledging animal abuse as the worrisome predictor that it can be, what else would be reported?

If a neighbor made a call about animal abuse when it happened and that was taken seriously, maybe a child’s life could be saved or a wife wouldn’t sustain a crippling injury.

Maybe it would all start with saving the abuser, getting that person the help necessary to deal with rage rather than alleviate pain by spreading it.

Because the truth is that all abuse is abuse, and stopping it should be where we start.

If we started acknowledging animal abuse as the worrisome predictor that it can be, what else would be reported?