The Link Between Serial Killers and Animal Abuse

Jeffrey Dahmer with his Christmas puppy. Dahmer would later torture, kill and dismember this dog in the same manner he dismembered his victims.

Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, and Jeffrey Dahmer, all are serial killers, and all have one thing in common, they began their careers by torturing and killing animals. In fact animal abuse has been linked to child abuse, domestic, violence, serial killings, and the recent uprising in murders by school age children.

Most children are cruel to and torture animals to impress their peers, but future serial killers usually torture animals purely for their own enjoyment. Animal abuse is a recognized sign of a mental disorder. If a child hurts animals it should be a red flag and immediate action should be taken. While there are many factors that contribute to someone becoming a serial killer, the one constant they share is animal abuse.

Jeffrey Dahmer showed an intense interest in dismembering animals as a child. As an adult he was charged with murdering and dismembering at least sixteen people. Dahmer is just one example of this. As a matter of fact, most people who are on death row for murder admit to abusing animals as children. A study done by North Eastern University and the Massachusetts SPCA found that people who abuse animals are five times more likely to abuse humans than people who do not. Albert Schweitzer said it best when the wrote that “Anyone who has accustomed himself to regard the life of any living creature as worthless is in danger of arriving also at the idea of worthless human lives”.

This article is intended to inform but also to help. Any parent who sees this type of behavior in their children should immediately seek out help for the child. These are not isolated incidents, as I said earlier almost every serial killer has a history of animal abuse. This is a fact, not a coincidence.  Here are a few examples of serial killers who  killed animals.

Albert Disalvo (better known as the Boston Strangler) used to trap dogs and cats as a child and then shoot them with arrows.

Edward Emil Kemper lll was convicted of killing eight women, one of which was his own mother. When he was thirteen yrs. old he would kill neighborhood cats and put their heads on poles. Kemper killed his own cat, decapitated it and then cut it into small pieces. This is the same thing he did to his own mother!

David Berkowitz was convicted of thirteen murders and attempted murders. He used to abuse the neighborhood dogs. He shot one neighbors dog because according to him, the dog was an “evil force” that compelled him to kill.

Ted Bundy was convicted of two murders though he was suspected of at least forty! Bundy used to watch as his own father tortured animals. Eventually, Bundy did the same.

Andrew Cunanan was the man who killed designer Versace and was suspected in the murders of five other people. Cunanan used to gather crabs and then burn their eyes out with a lighted match. He would watch their eyes sizzle then turn them loose.

The link between abuse of animals and the emerging of a serial killer has been documented time and time again, it is a known fact that most serial killers begin their murderous careers by honing their skills on animals long before graduating to murder of humans. If this is true then why is it that authorities still do not take animal abuse seriously? Authorities turn a blind eye to animal abuse, refusing to lay charges in anything other then the most horrific of cases.

Would lives have been saved if any of the aforementioned serial killers had been charged for their crimes against animals? Maybe yes, maybe no, but the fact remains that had anyone been paying attention during the childhood years of the aforementioned killers, they might have noticed the signs.

I guess in conclusion my point is this, do not turn a blind eye to animal abuse, report it. In doing so you could be saving the life of a serial killers first human victim.

Until Tomorrow Remember

BE THE CHANGE YOU SEEK!

Janette