Epidemic:
Kids Hurting Animals

As mental-health and law-enforcement experts well know, cruelty to animals and violence against humans are inextricably linked. Many educators are aware that serial killers and school shooters—including alleged killers Salvador Ramos, Payton Gendron, Nikolas Cruz, and Ethan Crumbley—tend to have a history of cruelty to animals, and Sandy Hook Promise has cruelty to animals on its “10 Critical Warning Signs of Violence” list.

Forty-three percent of perpetrators of schoolyard massacres commit acts of cruelty to animals first. Educators can help prevent future tragedies by including kindness to animals in the curriculum. Amid the current epidemic of youth violence, PETA urges everyone to report every act of cruelty against animals and calls on authorities to take each animal abuse claim seriously—for the sake of the animal victims and to help prevent future harm. Lives may depend on it.

Browse the List

New Mexico

State Laws

L1.9 Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

School possesses and promotes schoolwide behavioral norms, and explicitly teaches them along with social emotional competencies such as “selfawareness,” “self-management,” “social awareness,” “decision making,” or “relationship development skills.” (Source)

Reported Animal Abuse Cases

July 2019/Albuquerque, New Mexico

WSAW.com reported that two teens allegedly chased a peacock and stomped on his back at the ABQ BioPark Zoo.

September 2018/Las Cruces, New Mexico

KRWG.com reported that several Las Cruces children—the youngest of whom was reportedly just 11 years old—broke into  a daycare and stomped on and smashed three goldfish to death, “smearing their innards” across the tile.

November 2017/Albuquerque, New Mexico

KOAT Action News 7 reported that 16-year-old Sebastian Garcia, one of three people charged with burglarizing a family’s home and killing a Great Dane named Moose, was released from prison on probation. Reportedly, Moose was slain during a break-in at the family’s home in Sandia Park, with a friend finding the nearly 5-year-old rescue dog bleeding profusely due to what was believed to be a bullet that caused her lungs to collapse.