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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Vermont

State Laws

16 V.S.A. § 2902

“2902. Tiered system of supports and educational support team

(5) provide all students with a continuum of evidence-based positive behavioral practices that promote social and emotional learning, including trauma-sensitive programming, that are both school-wide and focused on specific students or groups of students;” (Source)

Reported Animal Abuse Cases

November 2016/Burlington, Vermont

BurlingtonFreePress.com reported that a 13-year-old boy had been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after a local family’s cat was reportedly found dead, hanging from a tree. The boy was also allegedly accused of killing a chicken and was a suspect in an assault at school.