Bahamas Humane Society Agrees with Study Findings: Link Between Animal Cruelty and Domestic Violence

THE STUDY...

PART FIVE...

Study purpose

This study was designed to investigate childhood harm of animals by Bahamians. In particular it sought answers to the questions: (a) Do males and females exhibit similar levels of harm towards animals? (b) What types of animals are victims of harm? (c) Are there any links between childhood harm of animals and the domestic environment in which the children lived? In particular, do children who live in violent homes exhibit a similar level of harm towards animals as those who do not?

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Methodology...

[Please click on link at top of article to read the entire study in .PDF format.]

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THE STUDY...

PART FOUR...

Animals in The Bahamas

While The Bahamas comprises hundreds of islands and cays, the majority of its residents (69.4%) live on one island (New Providence, where the capital, Nassau, is situated). This results in a population per square kilometre of 1,018 in New Providence, but as low as one per square kilometre on other islands (Bahamas Department of Statistics, 2002). Therefore, the majority of human-animal interactions would be expected to occur in an urban setting. Although The Bahamas is surrounded by sea, relatively few persons (1.7%) are employed in the agricultural, hunting, or fishing industries (Bahamas Department of Statistics, 2002). Therefore, it can be expected that most people will be exposed to domestic animals, and urban wildlife associated with a sub-tropical environment (e.g., birds, mosquitoes, cockroaches, termites, frogs, lizards and non-poisonous snakes [Bahamas High Commission, 2009]) rather than farm animals or animals which might be hunted. Within homes, dogs are the most common pet (Fielding, 2008a) but they are also considered a nuisance and many are allowed to roam, which puts them at risk of harm (Fielding, 2008b). Although cats are less common than dogs, their level of care is similar and they too are allowed to roam (Fielding, 2009).

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Violence towards humans in The Bahamas

The Bahamas appears to have a high level of violence, both in terms of domestic violence (McEwen, 2010) and homicides (Hanna, 2011).

Increases in the number of homicides connected to domestic violence and increases in child abuse in recent years also suggest that children as well as adults are at risk of harm (Plumridge & Fielding, 2009).

Spanking, or the use of violence to discipline Bahamian children, is common (Brennen, Fielding et al., 2010) and may be rooted in cultural (Knowles, 2000) and religious beliefs (Otterbein & Otterbein, 1973). The implications of abuse of children and adults are well known, (e.g., Maas et al., 2008; Rivett & Kelly, 2006). Within The Bahamas, Knowles (2000) has shown that male children who were abused were likely to be more aggressive and more likely to suffer from other problems than non-abused males. Burnett-Garraway (2001) has identified several predisposing risk factors of female victims of domestic violence which included “younger age, being single, low level of education, substance use, economic hardship and crowding in the home” (p. ii).

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Violence towards animals in The Bahamas

Many homes in New Providence keep pets (52.1%, according to Fielding and Plumridge, 2005), and so this provides the opportunity for children to interact with animals, both in benign and/or antagonistic ways. Few studies have focused on harm towards pets or other animals in The Bahamas. However, in common with other countries, neglect appears to be the most common form of abuse of companion animals.

In The Bahamas, the most common acts towards dogs which students considered cruel were, in order of most agreement: general neglect, hitting with rocks, beating, or abuse (unspecified) and poisoning (Sawyer, 2002, reported in Fielding, Mather, & Isaacs, 2005). Some dogs are used in (illegal) dog fighting, and it has been reported that dogs are subjected to violence which can lead to their being injured (Fielding, 2010a). While limited work has been done on what actions constitute cruelty, adult caregivers of dogs have a clear idea of abuse. This focuses on the provision of standard and enriched levels of care as well as the avoidance of physical harm to the dogs (Fielding, 2010b).

Dogs are hit as a means of discipline, and while intentional harm of dogs is not widespread (Fielding, 2010c), its presence is a concern. Both the Bahamian media and Internet sites report stories of neglect and intentional harm of animals, and officers of the Bahamas Humane Society have a long experience of animal cruelty, which typically affects dogs (Rolle, 2009). While local animal welfare groups are aware of the danger to society posed by people who harm animals (Aranha, 2009), this is not always appreciated by the wider public (Fielding & Plumridge, 2010).

Consequently, it appears that opportunities exist for children to mistreat either pets or other animals within an urban environment.

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THE STUDY...

PART THREE...

INTRODUCTION

An ever-expanding body of knowledge supports the idea that the abuse of animals and people is linked (e.g., Ascione, 2008; Ascione & Arkow, 1999; Lockwood & Ascione, 1998; Petersen & Farrington, 2007). The link can be thought of as a “pathway to future violence” either because violence towards animals “desensitized” the victimiser to aggression or by allowing “the floodgates restricting violence” to be opened (Arluke, 2007, p. 416). Gansler (2008) states:

Children exposed to these activities [animal cruelty and animal fighting] are at greater risk of being perpetrators or victims of crimes of violence. Animal abuse often occurs in the context of family violence and is frequently associated with … possession of dangerous weapons, and other offenses (p. C2).

Thompson and Gullone (2008) have pointed to the fact that children can learn cruelty towards animals; therefore, their childhood experiences in this regard are important as such activities may persist beyond childhood.

Animal abusers can apparently graduate from harming animals in their childhood to harming people in adulthood (Wright & Hensley, 2003).

Tallichet and Hensley (2004) have reported that “animal cruelty is, at least in part, a learned behavior” (p. 45) and links between animal cruelty and violent acts toward humans in adulthood have been found (e.g., Merz-Perez & Heide, 2003). Bevan and Higgins (2002) have also shown that the childhood home environment can play an important role in shaping the interpersonal behavior of males in adulthood. Flynn (1999) has shown that the treatment of children, particularly corporal punishment, can be correlated with childhood acts of cruelty towards animals. In Norway, Ellingsen, Zanella, Bjerkås, and Indrebø (2010) noted “early experiences in keeping pets as a child often help set a pattern for adult life” (p. 238). It should be noted that the associations above have not been observed by all researchers (e.g., Tallichet, Hensley, & Singer, 2005), and that that the graduation theory, although long-standing (e.g., William Hogarth’s prints The Four Stages of Cruelty, 1751), is not accepted by all researchers (e.g., McPhedran, 2009). While the triggers which may result in some children who harm animals later harming people are as yet unknown and subject to debate (Beirne, 2004), there seems sufficient evidence to suggest that it is important to learn about childhood interactions with animals and the animals which may be most at risk of harm.

To date, most of the research on childhood cruelty towards animals has occurred in North America, Australia and Europe, and while research is now expanding to other areas such as Malaysia (Mellor, Yeow, bt Mamat, & bt Mohd Hapidzal, 2008) and Japan (Yamazaki, 2010), there is still a need to examine childhood harm towards animals in other communities.

Despite the expanding evidence which typically supports the idea of an association between harm of animals and harm of people, the research methods used remain problematical, as they often depend upon self-reporting and may not include all the issues which have an impact on the human or animal violence (Arluke, 2007; Ascione & Shapiro, 2009). Patterson-Kane and Piper (2009) caution researchers about making too much of linkages as this may fail to indicate that multiple factors contribute to harmful behaviours. Such problems are not unique to this area of research but also apply to other related areas, such as childhood events and later behaviour (e.g., Maas, Herrenkohl, & Sousa, 2008).

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http://cob.edu.bs

THE STUDY...

PART TWO...

1W. J. Fielding, Director, Planning Unit ; Raymond A. Oenbring, Assistant Professor, School of English Studies; Shane Brennen, Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences; Marie C. Carroll, Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences; Nicolette Bethel, Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences; Jessica Minnis, Assistant Professor, School of Social Sciences all at The College of The Bahamas, P.O. Box N-4912, Nassau, Bahamas.

Acknowledgments: The authors are grateful to the students at The College of The Bahamas in assisting with the data collection. The authors gratefully acknowledge Kevin Sherin and Mark Dadds for permission to use their questions and to Phil Arkow for reading an earlier draft of this paper. The final version of the paper benefited from the comments of the anonymous referees and Virginia Ballance.

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THE STUDY...

PART ONE...

A First Look at Harm Toward Animals by Bahamians in Childhood

William J. Fielding, Raymond A. Oenbring, Shane Brennen, Marie C. Carroll, Nicolette Bethel, and Jessica Minnis

The College of The Bahamas1

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on the first known study on childhood harm towards animals in The Bahamas. Using the Children and Animals Inventory (CAI), an Internet survey involving 1,558 respondents allowed childhood harm towards animals, to be investigated in the context of other violent behaviours in the child’s home. The homes of children who did not harm animals were less violent than the homes of children who harmed animals. Consistent with other studies, males were more likely to harm animals than females; further, males were more likely than females to harm sentient animals. While the use of violence to train children was not associated with a higher CAI score, domestic violence and the presence of a gun in the home were associated with a higher CAI score. The implications of these findings as they relate to the treatment of living creatures are discussed.

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