Mega Hurts

How important are your pets to you? More important, I trust, than the two Maltese Terrier cross dogs that were killed in Tasmania not long ago.

The Hobart Mercury reports that while a man bashed the two dogs to death with an axe, his girlfriend stayed in her house with the music turned up so she couldn't hear the offence taking place. The man killed the first dog because it was sick and then killed the second in case it pined for its mate.

He was sentenced to do 84 hours of community service and was fined $400. His partner was sentenced to 49 hours community service.

The magistrate chose not to prohibit them from owning further pets, leaving that decision to "their own commonsense". So now the couple have a new dog - a 10-month-old Rottweiler named Brew. Commonsense would have seen a prohibition on the future ownership of animals.

It's hard to imagine what could drive a person to injure an innocent animal in such a callous manner.

However, it happens. Another recent case in South Australia involved the successful prosecution of a Nairne man who slashed his neighbour's dog with a machete, causing a 12 cm long, 4 cm deep wound on the dog's left side.

The dog survived and recovered and is still living with its owner, while the offender was fined $750 and ordered to pay $766.70 costs.

These ghastly cases of cruelty are just two of the 47,000 or so cases investigated by the RSPCA each year. Over half of the cruelty cases involved dogs.

While that's disturbing enough, a report from America shows that there is another side to animal abuse that is rarely discussed - the link with domestic violence and child abuse.

USA Today reports that in West Bend, Wisconsin, a man was sentenced to seven months in jail for killing his wife's eight pets to punish her for having an abortion. And in Collier County, a woman's ex-husband was jailed for six months with three years' probation for drowning his wife's two cats after she moved out of his home.

The link between domestic violence and animal abuse is confirmed by an American psychologist who surveyed 101 pet-owning women seeking refuge in shelters in Utah. Fifty-four percent of the women confirmed their partners had hurt or killed a pet, while only 5% of pet-owning women from the general community reported the same fact.

In a presentation to the American Veterinary Medical Association recently, psychologist, Frank Ascione also reported that children who are themselves abused seem more likely to harm animals. If physically abused, 25.5% of such children were cruel to animals; if sexually abused, 13.2% were cruel, and if both physically and sexually abused, 34% were cruel to animals. In a group of non-abused children, only 4.7% were cruel to animals.

Thankfully most people have a very healthy and compassionate attitude towards their two legged and four legged family. In fact, 84% of people view their pets as equal to their children or consider themselves as their pet's mum or dad.

If a parent regards a family pet as equal to a child, how, then, does the child view the pet? The Pet Care Information and Advisory Service (www.petnet.com.au) summarises a UK report that shows pets are nearly as important as parents in a small child's life. So, while a parent regards the pet as one of their children, the child more commonly gives the pet similar status to that of a protector such as its parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle.

When troubled, children will often turn to pets for comfort. When children were asked who or what they would take as a protector when walking down a dark alley, the family dog featured second on their list, after their dad. Even cats are regarded by many children, when ill or upset, as a source of comfort of equal importance as their mum.

The importance of pets is being recognised more formerly in law and as always, America leads the way. For centuries, courts have considered animals to be property or "chattels" and compensation for a stolen or injured animal was limited to the replacement cost of the animal. This attitude stemmed from the animal's value of as a beast of burden on a farm rather than as a pet.

In 1994 this changed, at least in America, when two dogs, Freckles and Muffin, where shot dead by a hunter in Texas. The jury awarded $4,300 to the distressed owner - considerably more than the animals' cash value. A state appeals court upheld the award, noting that "a great number of people today treat their pets as family members" thus nominating a value for the companionship that pets provide.

Sadly, our society will always be plagued by those mongrel misfits that mistreat animals and even humans. Through stronger legislation and heightened community morals, we trust that cruelty will decrease. One thing is certain - while we are forced by emotionless technology to evolve at unnatural and discomforting speed, our pets are still soft, cuddly fur balls that respond to us with affection and are aware of our moods. They love us for what we are and know nothing of global warming, gigabytes and kilowatts. But they do know what mega-hurts are, and they need our protection.