Dog fighting is only the start

To the editor:
    Recently, dog fighting has come to our attention through a famous athlete’s involvement. While the furor over that case is understandable, there are far greater reasons we need to be cognizant of this behavior. Dog fighting is a form of animal cruelty. Cruelty to animals is a precursor to many criminal, sociopathic, and social behavioral patterns that we need to be on the lookout for.
    Children who are discovered or apprehended abusing animals are signaling a lowered regard for other life forms; are likely indicating some form of abuse to themselves; and/or are giving warning signs of serious troubles ahead. Many mass and serial murderers have later been found to have abused animals in childhood like Jeffrey Dahmer. Many spousal abusers, too, have been shown to have earlier pet abuse histories. Animal abuse, then, is a fairly reliable, but not necessary, warning sign of future trouble.
    Such abusers desperately need professional counseling. Such therapy ought not be left as an option for abusers or their families, but must be court mandated. Such individuals are walking time bombs ready to later explode and maim or kill other animals or people they encounter.
    Those involved in dog, cock, or other animal fighting show a low regard for the lives and feelings of these animals and one can reasonably assume there to be a lowered empathy and regard for their fellow humans as well. Not only do many people involved in animal fighting allow, enable, and make money on the murderous nature of such fighting; they torturously end the lives of those animals who fail to win such matches and make money for human owners. These people show the telltale first signs of individuals who later may become dangerous to people nears them and perhaps to the general public.
    Youngsters and adults apprehended abusing animals or other people need to receive mandatory intense counseling and an officially recorded evaluation needs to be kept so that subsequent abuse – animal or human – can be noted by the police and courts. We cannot afford to be apathetic toward this behavior or to look the other way when lots of criminal justice and psychiatric/psychological clinical evidenced shows the links between such abuse and later horrendous sociopathic behavior. Society needs to protect itself.
Ken Petress
Presque Isle