When people hurt their pets, their family members should worry, not just for the well-being of the animal, but for their own safety as well. Animal abuse is a crime serious enough by itself, but studies have shown it commonly goes hand in hand with domestic abuse.
“With [animal] abuse, it’s more anger management. People can’t manage their anger,” Andrew Sieber, a Lake Zurich Police Department detective, said. “[Domestic abuse] is much more common than animal abuse. That can be because of alcohol or other drugs, anger management, or marital problems.”
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ website says both domestic abuse and animal abuse can occur to show anger, power, or dominance. According to the American Humane Association’s website, 70 percent of people who abused animals had also been arrested for other crimes, which means commonly a perpetrator commits these two crimes together.
According to the National Museum of Crime and Punishment’s website, harming animals is a sign to look out for in potential serial killers. Also, more locally, when people fill out Domestic Violence Risk Assessment sheets at the Lake Zurich Police Department, they are asked if the person in question has harmed or threatened to harm animals/pets.
If authorities find abused animals, they usually give them to a rescue or other animal organization for rehabilitation.
Mike Daidone, owner and president of Baxter and Beasley in Palatine, a dog day care and training facility, has fostered over a 100 abused dogs in the 14 months they have been open. Rescues like Great Lakes Dog Rescue and Fortunate Pooches will call and ask for a foster so the dog is not placed in a high-kill shelter. Daidone believes a high percent of the dogs he has fostered had been abused.
“A majority are abused, ninety-nine percent. Why such an absolute figure? These dogs, they don’t become rescues for no reason,” Daidone said. “There are all kinds of abuse. You can be physically abusive to somebody, mentally abusive, screaming at a dog and scaring him. You can do that to children. You can do that to people. There are all kinds of abuse, so in my opinion, all these dogs in a rescue or a shelter are there primarily because of abuse of some sort.”
Domestic abusers commonly abuse animals, verbally, physically, and by neglecting, to demonstrate their power, according to ASPCA’s website. Seventy-five percent of domestic abusers hurt animals in the presence of children to coerce and frighten them, or even teach them how to be dominant, according to the American Humane Association’s website.
“I got a call from a rescue and they had a Rottweiler that had to have a home that night because it was going to be euthanized. The story we got was this dog had been beaten up by his previous owner. He thought it was a great way to establish dominance,” Daidone said. “He had a six year old daughter, and to teach his daughter how to be dominant, he had her beat the dog, who was only a year old. [The dog] had finally had enough of this, and she had nipped the child. The father then choked the dog out to the point she couldn’t defend herself, and then he had the kid beat the dog up, took it to the vet after that and said, ‘now kill it.’”
The vet did not euthanize the dog, but instead found a foster for her. Eventually, Daidone fostered her as well, and she has been adopted since. Daidone said it does not surprise him that there is a connection between domestic and animal abuse. He does not see an excuse for either type.
“There is no reason that would ever make sense to me,” Daidone said. “No. If you’ll do this to an animal, what prevents you from doing it to a human?”
When Daidone first meets the animal he is fostering, he experiences a range of feelings towards the dog and its previous owner.
“For a period of time, it starts out with sadness. And then I get angry. I get very angry inside,” Daidone said. “I just don’t understand it. I get sad and then I get angry, and then I get over it. But I do get really angry. You just [deal with it]. Somewhere along the line someone’s going to get a good pet.”
Detective Sieber agrees that is can be difficult with cases like these.
“It’s tough to deal with a situation with any victim,[even a dog], who has been a victim of a crime,” Sieber said. “These victims should be treated with respect. But you have to be professional to gather the evidence and the facts of the case.”
In 2010, Muddy Paws, a dog rescue and shelter in Kildeer, was shut down due to extreme animal neglect. The owner, Diane Eldrup, was charged with 32 accounts of animal cruelty, according to the Daily Herald’s website. The police found about 18 dead dogs and other animals and from five to 10 tons of dog excrement in the building.
“This lady was clearly over her head. I would like to see us spend money on hiring good, professional people to follow up,” Daidone said. “The Department of Agriculture should get more people to check on these doggie day cares. Check on me. See what I’m doing. You can say the same thing about these homes, where you think a child is being abused or you see these daycares for children. Spend the money …. And if you don’t want to do it [for] animals, my God do it for the children.”