Saturday, July 17, 2010

Animal abusers: a precursor to violence against humans

Just last month I reported about the two LI teens who viciously tortured and killed an innocent turtle.


Now a 22-year-old Albany man admits drowning a cat in his bathtub and torturing two other cats.

According to Associated Press and CBS News, Caleb Capen faces one to four years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to felony animal cruelty. This past February he was arrested after a police officer found a dead cat burning inside paper and plastic bags in a snowbank.

Police went to Capen’s home where they found two more cats with broken bones from abuse. He told police that he had adopted a cat who didn't get along with the other cats and admitted to stepping on the cat, squeezing it, striking it with a wrench and then drowning it. He'll be sentenced in September.

According to a 1997 study done by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and Northeastern University, animal abusers are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people and four times more likely to commit property crimes than are individuals without a history of animal abuse.

READ MORE OF THE ENTIRE STORY HERE