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Symposium Ⅲ
“The Cycle of Violence: The Connection Between Violence
to Humans and Animals”
Date: Sat.19th July 13:30 ~ 16:30
Venue: Ikuta Meeting Room
Organiser: Japan Animal Welfare Society, Japanese Coalition for Animal Welfare
Purpose: In recent years the idea of including animal abuse in the contemplation of violent acts toward human beings is gaining wider acceptance. An attempt to consider acts of animal abuse coexisting with child abuse, DV, the abuse of the elderly as well as with other violent crimes will be made with input from professionals in the field.
Chairperson’s Message
Keiko YAMAZAKI
Founder, Companion Animal Study Group ‘Go’
For many years now the public has become more attentive to the fact that violence towards people is indeed connected to violence towards animals. If those in charge of human welfare and those working in animal welfare were able to exchange information more readily perhaps the victims on both sides would be able to receive help more expeditiously. Unfortunately, however, despite the evidence, those in human welfare and law enforcement are still not fully aware of the importance of this connection. This session will strive to stimulate the interest of all parties involved in this field through presentations by experts from both the U.S. and Japan.
Species-Spanning Violence Prevention:
How Addressing the Link Between Animal Abuse
and Human Violence Can Improve Social Capital
and Reduce Human and Animal Suffering
Coordinator, National Link Coalition
Efforts to prevent animal cruelty and to encourage greater respect for animals have traditionally been made difficult by four forces that trivialize animals’ interests as being less important than humans’ well-being. These are: a “speciesist” resistance in the social sciences and human services; stratification gaps separating academicians from practitioners; professional “silos” that make interdisciplinary communication difficult; and failure to appreciate the impact of companion animals on community health and social capital. Recent research, legislation and programs in the U.S. and other nations are improving animal welfare by modernizing the age-old concept that animal cruelty often predicts acts of violence against vulnerable humans. Global interest in “The Link”
connecting animal abuse with domestic violence, child maltreatment and elder abuse is building cross-fertilization among criminology, law enforcement, veterinary medicine, human medicine, child protection, domestic violence, animal welfare, and adult protective services. Legislators are taking greater notice of animal welfare issues by recognizing the adverse impact of animal abuse on individual and community health and safety. Veterinarians and physicians are collaborating through a “One Health” model that links human and animal health. A “species-spanning” approach, which looks at human and animal violence holistically, is stopping family violence where it begins, increasing responsibility for the animals that share our lives, and reducing the suffering of all vulnerable members of families.
Associations Between Antisocial Behaviors and Animal Abuse
—Why Animal Abuse Should be Perceived as a Risk Factor
for Antisocial Behaviors—
Companion Animal Study Group “GO”
Empirical studies indicate the associations between animal abuse and antisocial behaviors such as interpersonal violence. This presentation provides an overview of the concept of animal abuse and a review of past literature on why animal abuse happens and how it has been associated with interpersonal violence. The presentation also argues why animal abuse should be perceived as a risk factor for antisocial behaviors. Animal abuse has been associated with a variety of antisocial behaviors and may be utilized for the prevention and early detection of such behaviors. In addition, it has been indicated that animal abuse may expand the perpetrators’ tolerance range of violence against weaker beings. Furthermore, the witnessing of animal abuse has been associated with antisocial behaviors of those who witness the abuse. For such reasons, the presentation concludes that tolerating animal abuse will lead to the increase of violence in general in society and will expand the tolerance range related to such violence resulting in the degeneration of morals of the entire society.