Rehab For Pet Abusers
According to experts, many violent criminals start down the wrong road by taking their anger out on defenseless animals. Now, a new program is aimed at stopping animal abusers before they move on to harm people.
Angel Lozada killed his brother's pet pigeons, 15 of them. He beat the birds to death with the handle of a shovel that he'd first thrown at his brother's head and missed.
"I was in anger at that time. Instead of killing him, I killed the birds," Lozada says.
Now, he's paying for his crime at an unusual place -- the ASPCA in New York City. Under a new program, in lieu of jail time, a judge sentenced Lozada to 12 sessions with psychologist Stephanie LaFarge.
Lozada says he loves animals, despite what he did. He has completed his dozen sessions with Dr. LaFarge and in the process, he has bonded with Sophie, the dog Dr. LaFarge keeps in her office. He's also renewed the bond with the brother whose birds he killed.
When Stephanie Lafarge came to the ASPCA three years ago, people convicted of pet abuse might be slapped with a small fine and sentenced to clean cages if they were sentenced at all. Now, says ASPCA chief Larry Hawk, New York is one of many states with new laws that make it a felony to commit an intentional act of cruelty against an animal.
"Prior to that, it was no more serious than if someone broke your television set, and our animals aren't television sets." says Hawk. "They're an important part of our families and they need to be treated that way by the law and by other people."
Lozado says if he ever finds himself again tempted to hurt an animal, he'll go talk to Dr. LaFarge
"I think it's a factor in human nature that we often harm and even kill things we really also love," says LaFarge.
LaFarge says when people hurt animals, they're really trying to hurt a person.
"We believe that the majority of animal abuse that occurs inside households is because the animal is not the target, but the person to whom that animal is attached or cares about the animal, they are the target," she says.
LaFarge points out that animal abuse, especially in childhood, is a serious marker for further violence toward human beings later in life.
Her advice for parents is not to ignore animal abuse.
"That sends the message that this was not a serious transgression against a creature that...has the same kind of feelings this child might have. First thing, take it seriously and talk to the child and see whether there was sadistic intent involved in it," suggests LaFarge. "Did the child realize the animal was suffering? Did he want the animal to suffer? In those cases it's very important not to ignore it and not to 'say boys will be boys' but to go ahead and seek an evaluation."