This article is provided by American Humane Association.
Children learn from adult role models and the society they live in.
A home of violence, abuse, or neglect produces children who may pass these behaviors on to the next generation, and so on. Animals, especially pets, get caught up in this cycle of family violence - Women and children are sometimes intimidated into silence about sexual or other abuses through threats made toward a favorite pet. Pets are sometimes hurt or killed to punish children for something they have done. Abused children may act out aggression and frustration on a pet they perceive as even more vulnerable than themselves. Physically or sexually abused children may kill their pets rather than have them hurt by the adult abuser in the home.