We Protect Kids and Pets
Pets include any animal that brings you comfort and love
Our Mission.
Our mission is to advance state-level policies that address the undeniable connection between animal cruelty and violence against children, domestic partners, and the elderly. By uniting grassroots organizations dedicated to ending these forms of abuse, we amplify the critical link between animal cruelty and broader violence, including school shootings, bullying, domestic violence, and child abuse.
Through our collective voice, we aim to drive legislative change that brings attention to and prevents these often-overlooked acts of violence.
RESEARCH
Abuse against animals can predict violence against people.
The link between animal cruelty and violent social behavior quickly gained recognition with the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School. The young perpetrators had bragged to their classmates about maiming animals well before they went on to kill 13 of their classmates and wounded 24.
In 2014, a young man was arrested in Colorado for abusing a dog and let go with virtually a slap on the wrist. Three years later he showed up at a Baptist Church in Texas where he killed 26 people, half of which were children, and wounded 20. No one took his violence towards animals seriously.
In 2022, a young man killed 19 students and 2 faculty at a school in Uvalde, Texas. Previously, the gunman had openly abused animals including putting cats in plastic bags, suspending them, and throwing them against walls or at people's windows. He posted such violence online. Again, these heinous acts were overlooked.
In that same year, a 19-year-old man killed 10 people in a supermarket in Buffalo. He also posted live and recorded videos of himself abusing animals. Still, no one took this animal cruelty seriously.
In over 50% of school shootings, the perpetrators had a history of abusing animals.
In 88% of homes in which physical child abuse was being investigated in one study, animal abuse also occurred in the home.
A 2017 study showed 89% of women who had companion animals during an abusive relationship, reported that their animals were threatened, harmed, or killed by their abusive partner.
Animal cruelty is not just a crime.
It’s an alarm signal. Take it seriously.
CIRCLE OF VIOLENCE
We miss the signs and they’re so obvious. At first, it might just be roughly throwing a pet off the couch, or depriving an animal of food and water for “discipline” or “training.” That escalates into a kick or longer-term isolation, and then perhaps something a lot worse. The examples are hard to fathom and hard to stomach, but they’re very real. Putting a cat in the microwave. Starving a horse. Tying a dog up outside in the freezing cold. These are clear signs of serious anger or mental health issues that if left unrecognized and untreated too often lead to devastating acts of violence towards people. We know that more than 50 percent of school shooters started out abusing animals and that serious acts of violence are also precursors to serious domestic violence.
It's what is described as “The Circle of Violence.” In a very real sense, violence begets violence and unless addressed can careen out of control. The Circle of Violence is a way to express what can happen and who ultimately suffers.
Children, Pets, Domestic Partners, and the Elderly all become victims. We at Protecting Kids and Pets Partnership focus policy and legislation on recognizing and interrupting this Circle of Violence. So clear is the link that the FBI has recognized it and now includes animal abuse as one of its listed and tracked crimes.
Increasingly, lawmakers, too, have begun to take the link seriously, passing legislation directed at recognizing animal cruelty as a clear red flag for future, more serious acts of violence. The goal is to interrupt the circle as early on as possible by taking violence toward animals as the serious red flag that it always has been.
