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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Massachusetts

State Laws

Section 30: Moral education

“Section 30. The president, professors and tutors of the university at Cambridge and of the several colleges, all preceptors and teachers of academies and all other instructors of youth shall exert their best endeavors to impress on the minds of children and youth committed to their care and instruction the principles of piety and justice and a sacred regard for truth, love of their country, humanity and universal benevolence, sobriety, industry and frugality, chastity, moderation and temperance, and those other virtues which are the ornament of human society and the basis upon which a republican constitution is founded; and they shall endeavor to lead their pupils, as their ages and capacities will admit, into a clear understanding of the tendency of the above mentioned virtues to preserve and perfect a republican constitution and secure the blessings of liberty as well as to promote their future happiness, and also to point out to them the evil tendency of the opposite vices.” (Source)

Reported Animal Abuse Cases

August 2019/Blackstone, Massachusetts

Boston25News.com reported that a Blackstone teen faced felony charges for allegedly killing a cat with an arrow.

November 2017/Suffolk County, Massachusetts

The Boston Globe reported that a 14-year-old boy was charged with inflicting serious bodily harm to a friend’s dog after he allegedly tortured the animal by forcing a soap dispenser into the canine’s vagina, causing serious internal injuries that required surgery to treat.

April 2017/Ludlow, Massachusetts

MassLive.com reported that two Ludlow High School students were facing cruelty-to-animals charges after allegedly mutilating a mouse they had bought at Petco, then posting images on social media. According to reports, the teens claimed that they wanted to dissect the mouse “like in a biology class.”

July 2016/Marblehead, Massachusetts

The Associated Press reported that 18-year-old Andrew McCarriston faces a charge of cruelty to animals for allegedly bludgeoning his family’s dog to death with a baseball bat. Reportedly, McCarrison’s mother brought the remains of the Maltese to a veterinarian to be cremated following the gruesome beating, alleging that her son killed the dog during an isolated “psychotic episode.”

November 2016/New Bedford, Massachusetts

SouthCoastToday.com reported that two teenagers, ages 15 and 16, had severely injured a squirrel by throwing rocks at him or her in a park. The animal was allegedly seen running from the suspects, bleeding and with an eye injury.

May 2015/Boston, Massachusetts

Boston 25 News reported that a 17-year-old boy was arrested and faces charges of cruelty to animals for allegedly mutilating multiple cats behind an abandoned house. Neighbors reportedly contacted authorities after seeing several dismembered remains strewn on the property’s back lawn. Upon arriving at the property, which reportedly had “No Trespassing” signs, police apparently found the suspect in possession of multiple weapons, including a machete, a folding knife, and a handsaw. In the yard, police reportedly also found an undisclosed number of animal body parts, a bottle of bleach, and a bag with the teen’s first name on it.