This week's Sunday New York Times Magazine, June 13, has an article by Charles Siebert, who has brought us many other beautifully written articles on animal issues. This one, on page 42, is titled, "The Animal Cruelty Syndrome."
The article tells us that animal cruelty issues are finally being taken seriously by law enforcement officers and in the legal system. We read:
"In addition to a growing sensitivity to the rights of animals, another significant reason for the increased attention to animal cruelty is a mounting body of evidence about the link between such acts and serious crimes of more narrowly human concern, including illegal firearms possession, drug trafficking, gambling, spousal and child abuse, rape and homicide. In the world of law enforcement — and in the larger world that our laws were designed to shape — animal-cruelty issues were long considered a peripheral concern and the province of local A.S.P.C.A. and Humane Society organizations; offenses as removed and distinct from the work of enforcing the human penal code as we humans have deemed ourselves to be from animals. But that illusory distinction is rapidly fading."
We read about famous serial killers who began with animals, and then:
"The link between animal abuse and interpersonal violence is becoming so well established that many U.S. communities now cross-train social-service and animal-control agencies in how to recognize signs of animal abuse as possible indicators of other abusive behaviors. In Illinois and several other states, new laws mandate that veterinarians notify the police if their suspicions are aroused by the condition of the animals they treat. The state of California recently added Humane Society and animal-control officers to the list of professionals bound by law to report suspected child abuse and is now considering a bill in the State Legislature that would list animal abusers on the same type of online registry as sex offenders and arsonists."
It is a lengthy and fascinating article, well worth reading. I found particularly interesting the discussion of the quashing but also the regeneration of empathy in people who have lived in families where animal abuse was prevalent. And it is great to read about CSI style animal forensic science, now being used to find the perpetrators when an abused animal is found.
Check out the article, or at the very least, go to http://tinyurl.com/26nu2w5 and hit the "recommend" button, or "Facebook" or "Twitter" links, so that your online friends will know about it and the paper see that the topic is popular.
We can keep the animal discussion alive with letters to the editor. Your letter might tie in any issue of animal abuse, such as our entertainment and food systems, for example. The Magazine takes letters at
magazine@nytimes.com
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published.
Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn
(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts only if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line.)
Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to learn about Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which was chosen last year by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!"
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Date: Sun Jun 13 18:31:48 2010
