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.

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Connecticut

State Laws

Public Act No. 11-232

“Sec. 2. Section 10-222g of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2011): For the purposes of section 10-222d, as amended by this act, the term ‘prevention and intervention strategy’ may include, but is not limited to, … [(6)] (4) inclusion of grade-appropriate bullying education and prevention curricula in kindergarten through high school.” (Source)

Reported Animal Abuse Cases

June 2017/Bristol, Connecticut

Fox61.com reported that a 13-year-old boy had been charged with cruelty to animals after police identified him as the suspect in a social media video depicting the mutilation and killing of a rabbit. The video allegedly shows the teenager decapitating the rabbit with hedge trimmers.