Forensics in Animal Cruelty Investigation: Part 1: The Psyche behind Cruelty

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Forensics in Animal Cruelty InvestigationPart
1 The Psyche behind Cruelty
Randall Lockwood, Ph.D. Senior Vice
President Anti-Cruelty Field Services
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Veterinary Forensics
Definition The application of medical knowledge
of animals to the purpose of the law
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CSI Effects

• Anti-Prosecution Predicts that juries exposed
  to courtroom dramas and CSI have come to expect
  state of the art forensic analysis and penalize
  prosecutors who fail to deliver

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CSI Effects

• Anti-Defense Claims exposure to CSI-style media
  elevates scientific evidence to an unsupported
  level of certainty, creating a posture of mystic
  infallibility of scientific evidence in the eyes
  of the jury

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CSI Effects

• Rising Popular and Academic Interest Surge of
  interest in forensic science among students as
  well as the general public

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CSI Effects

• Criminogenic Effect Police Chiefs and
  criminalists have expressed concern that shows
  like CSI create greater sophistication on the
  part of criminals in avoiding leaving evidence

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Anthony Zuiker the creator of CSI, said that
he wanted to design a program in which
scientific evidence speaks for those who
cannot speak for themselves.
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In the British Parliament Richard Martins "An
Act to Prevent the Cruel and Improper Treatment
of Cattle" was passed on June 10, 1822. It was
updated in 1835 1854 to include all
domesticated animals. The SPCA was founded by
Martin and others in 1824 to ensure that the
provisions were enforced and given Royal charter
in 1840, becoming the RSPCA. The Dublin SPCA was
also founded in 1840.
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The arrest of Kit Burns by The ASPCA New York,
May 8, 1868
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Alexandre Liutard, editor of The Veterinary
Review and veterinary advisor to Henry Bergh
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Defining Animal Cruelty

• Causing death in an inhumane manner
• Abandoning an animal in an environment in which
  it is incapable of surviving
• Providing poor sanitary conditions, lack of
  proper nutrition or shelter, lack of veterinary
  care or inhumane confinement
• Inflicting pain beyond forms of discipline
  commonly accepted in society

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Who Generates Animal Cruelty Reports?

• The General Public
• Animal Control Officers
• Animal Professionals groomers, trainers,
  veterinarians, vet techs
• Social Service Professionals Child Protective
  Services, Adult Protective Services, Victim
  Advocates
• Professionals with access to homes/yards Fire
  Dept., Code Enforcement, postal workers,
  utilities, delivery companies
• Local police or sheriffs department

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American Animal Hospital Association Position
Statement on Animal Abuse Reporting (October 2003)

• In order to encourage veterinarians and practice
  team members to be responsible leaders in their
  communities and to assist in the detection and
  reporting of animal abuse, the profession should
  educate its members to recognize, document and
  report animal abuse, develop forensic models,
  promote legislation concerning reporting by
  veterinarians and collaborate with other animal
  and human welfare groups and professionals within
  communities to eliminate the incidence of animal
  abuse.

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Survey of 110 Massachusetts Veterinarians by
(1999)

• 78.9 have seen at least one patient with
  injuries that may have been inflicted by a client
  or family member
• 47.3 were sure they had treated deliberate
  injuries
• 36.4 had made a report of abuse at some time
• 38.2 were concerned about possible repercussions
  from making a report

Patronek and Luke (1999). Journal of Applied
Animal Welfare Science 2(1), 59-73
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What Veterinary and Animal Care Professionals
need to Know about the psychology of animal
cruelty

• The forms it can take
• The roots of cruelty and the Cycle of Abuse
• The connections animal cruelty and interpersonal
  violence
• Appropriate responses

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Harmful Behavior Usually Constitutes a Choice
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I. Forms of Animal Cruelty

• Neglect
• Severe, wanton or cruel neglect
• Animal hoarding
• Intentional abuse, torture
• Organized abuse bloodsports
• Ritualized abuse
• Animal sexual assault

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Forms of Animal Cruelty

• Neglect
• Severe, wanton or cruel neglect
• Animal hoarding
• Intentional abuse, torture
• Organized abuse bloodsports
• Ritualized abuse
• Animal sexual assault

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Canine with tick infestation.
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Forms of Animal Cruelty

• Neglect
• Severe, Wanton or Cruel Neglect
• Animal Hoarding
• Intentional Abuse
• Organized Abuse
• Ritualized Abuse
• Animal sexual assault

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Severe Neglect

• Starvation/ Dehydration
• Malnutrition due to quantity/quality of food
• Effects of poor sanitation
• Exposure Frostbite/ Heatstroke
• Failure to provide necessary veterinary care
• Embedded collars

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Psychology of Neglect

• Ignorance
• Laziness
• Apathy
• Underlying physical or psychological barriers to
  care
• Caregiver stress
• Poverty
• Passive Aggression

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Forms of Animal Cruelty

• Neglect
• Severe, Wanton or Cruel Neglect
• Animal Hoarding
• Intentional Abuse
• Organized Abuse
• Ritualized Abuse
• Animal sexual assault

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Defining Animal Hoarder
Someone who accumulates a large number of
animals fails to provide minimal standards of
nutrition, sanitation and veterinary care and
fails to act on the deteriorating condition of
the animals (including disease, starvation and
even death) or the environment (severe
overcrowding, extremely unsanitary conditions) or
the negative effect of the collection on their
own health and well-being and on that of other
household members
Dr. Gary Patronek in Public Health Reports (114),
1999
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Psychological Interpretations of Animal Hoarding

• Attachment Disorder
• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Addictive Behavior
• Dementia
• others (paraphilias, psychoses, etc.)

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Warning signs for Veterinary and Animal Care and
Control Staff

• A constantly changing parade of pets, most never
  seen more then once
• Rarely see same animal for conditions associated
  with old age
• Visits only for problems not usually seen with
  good preventive health care e.g. trauma,
  urinary blockage
• Client has several vets, travels great distance,
  comes in at odd hours
• Client seeks heroic or futile care for recently
  found animals

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Additional Warning Signs

• Animals have been recently bathed to conceal odor
• Client smells of animal urine
• Client seeks medication for other animals at home
  without allowing vet to see them
• Client is unwilling or unable to say how many
  animals he/she has
• Client expresses interest in taking in more
  animals, may check office bulletin board or
  question clients in the waiting room

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Medical Conditions Relevant to Documenting
Hoarding

• Starvation/dehydration/malnutrition/cannibalism
• Internal/External parasite loads
• Colony infections esp. respiratory
• Effects of prolonged exposure to
  urine/feces/airborne ammonia
• Effects of limited/no exercise muscle loss
• Forced matings (esp. in cats)
• Behavioral disorders associated with
  socialization, feeding

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Forms of Animal Cruelty

• Neglect
• Severe, Wanton or Cruel Neglect
• Animal Hoarding
• Intentional Abuse
• Organized Abuse
• Ritualized Abuse
• Animal sexual assault

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Why Do They Abuse Animals?
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Motives for Cruelty to Animals - Power and
Control

• To demonstrate power and control over others
• As a tool for emotional abuse
• To secure silence or compliance
• Revenge, retaliation or blackmail

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Motives for Cruelty to Animals

• Curiosity and exploration
• Ignorance of animal needs, abilities or signals
• Boredom
• As a method for mood alteration
• Deviant sexual arousal
• Non-specific sadism

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Motives for Cruelty to Animals - Reactive

• Imitation of others
• Identification with aggressor
• As means of avoiding/denying attachment
• Post-traumatic play
• To induce self-injury
• Rehearsal of suicide

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Motives for Cruelty to Animals - Social

• Peer reinforcement
• Forced participation
• Gang or cult activity
• To establish autonomy/reject societal norms
• To shock and offend

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Suggested Typologies of Juvenile Animal Abuse 

• Child who is developmentally immature and lacks
  cognitive and/or social skills
• Child who is a victim of abuse and whose abusive
  behavior is reactive to his/her own victimization
• Child whose maliciousness is consistent with an
  overall pattern of conduct disordered behavior

S. Lewchanin and E. Zimmerman (2000). Clinical
Assessment of Juvenile Animal Cruelty
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Forms of Animal Cruelty

• Neglect
• Severe, Wanton or Cruel Neglect
• Animal Hoarding
• Intentional Abuse
• Organized Abuse
• Ritualized Abuse
• Animal sexual assault

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Common pattern of old and new facial injuries
often seen in dogfighting
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Psychological elements seen in dogfighting

• Power and Control
• Greed
• Non-specific sadism
• Social Status
• Absence of empathy? probably not

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Forms of Animal Cruelty

• Neglect
• Severe, Wanton or Cruel Neglect
• Animal Hoarding
• Intentional Abuse
• Organized Abuse
• Ritualized Abuse
• Animal sexual assault

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The traditional view of witches
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Satanic Pennsylvania crime scene that included
a hanging dog
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Improvised Santeria altar and the remains of
sacrificed chickens
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Forms of Animal Cruelty

• Neglect
• Severe, Wanton or Cruel Neglect
• Animal Hoarding
• Intentional Abuse
• Organized Abuse
• Ritualized Abuse
• Animal sexual assault