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{{Original research|date=November 2007}}
{{short description|Pleasure derived from cruelty to animals}}
'''Zoosadism''' is a term coined by [[Ernest Bornemann]]. The term refers to those who derive pleasure from inflicting [[Pain and nociception|pain]] on a (non-human) [[animal]], sometimes with a [[sexual]] component.{{Fact|date=November 2007}} Some extreme examples of zoosadism include '''necrozoophilia''' (a [[portmanteau]] between '''[[necrophilia]]''' and '''[[zoophilia]]'''), the sexual enjoyment of killing animals, similar to "[[lust murder]]" in humans, [[avisodomy|sexual penetration of birds]] such as hens (which is fatal to the hen) and strangling at [[orgasm]], [[mutilation]], [[sexual assault]] with objects (including [[screwdriver]]s and [[knive]]s), interspecies [[rape]], fire or burning, and [[sexual assault]] on immature animals such as [[puppies]].
'''Zoosadism''' is pleasure derived from [[What is Considered Abuse|cruelty to animals]]. It is part of the Macdonald triad, a set of three behaviors that are considered a precursor to psychopathic behavior.<ref name=macdonald>{{cite journal|author=J. M. MacDonald|title=The Threat to Kill|journal=American Journal of Psychiatry|volume=120|issue=2|pages=125–130|year=1963|doi=10.1176/ajp.120.2.125}}</ref>
Modern research, and most sexology information sites (if sufficiently detailed), are usually careful to distinguish zoosadism, the enjoyment of causing suffering to animals, from zoophilia, the sexual attraction to and bonding with non-human animals.
==General==
[[Zoophiles]] abhor with a passion zoosadism, as well as any cruelty to animals. In general, they find it particularly unsettling that sexually tainted cruelty to animals can easily find its way into the media and thus form an inaccurate image of "the [[zoophile]]".
Acts of zoosadism are often a precursor to the abuse of humans.{{Fact|date=November 2007}}
Violent acts against animals are called zoosadism. A zoosadist tries to achieve physical and, above all, psychological satisfaction through his actions. Animals are usually easier for persons to reach than humans and cannot give him away directly. Zoosadism is cruelty to animals. The only difference is that animal cruelty often also arises from human greed for wealth or willfulness, or the animal is neglected out of disinterest, but the zoosadist acts out of an "inner drive".
==Zoosadism contrasted with animal cruelty==
==Research==
{{main|Animal cruelty}}
Some studies have suggested that individuals who are cruel to animals are more likely to be violent to humans. According to ''The New York Times'':
Logically, not all cruelty is sadism, although all sadism is cruel. George Ryley Scott, the author of ''The History of Torture Throughout the Ages'' makes the point that:
<blockquote>It is important to distinguish between cruelty per se and sadism. The popular assumption, due largely to the loose way in which the term is now used in popular fiction and in newspapers, that sadism is a synonym for cruelty in any form, is a fallacy. Sadism is a sexological term, and, strictly speaking, it should never be employed apart from its sexological connotations</blockquote>
{{cquote|The Federal Bureau of Investigation{{!}}FBI has found that a history of cruelty to animals is one of the traits that regularly appear in its computer records of Serial rape{{!}}serial rapists and Serial killer{{!}}murderers, and the standard diagnostic and treatment manual for psychiatric and emotional disorders lists cruelty to animals as a diagnostic criterion for conduct disorders.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Goleman | first = Daniel | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = Child's Love of Cruelty May Hint at the Future Killer | newspaper = New York Times | pages = | year = | date = 7 August 1991 | url = | postscript = <!--None--> }}</ref>}}
<blockquote>The sadist, in most cases, either practices or delights in the witnessing of cruelty, but his pleasure is concerned exclusively with and is limited entirely to sexual excitation and relief. Cruelty, in any other circumstances, does not appeal to him. Moreover, the moment the sexual repercussion has spent itself, he takes no further interest in the practice or expression of cruelty. In addition, the sadist usually expresses his cruelty along well-defined and restricted lines." ''(cited by Masters, 1962, section "related perversions"</blockquote>
Helen Gavin wrote however in ''Criminological and Forensic Psychology'' (2013):
Zoosadism towards [[insect]]s is frequently exhibited by people who never go on to engage in any type of crime involving the harming of a person or a legally protected [[entity]]. The classic example of this subvariety of "schoolyard viciousness" is the child who pulls off a fly's wings. The [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] writer [[Plutarch]], in his ''[[Parallel Lives]]'', claims that the Emperor [[Domitian]] amused himself by catching flies and impaling them with needles. The contemporary American humorist [[David Sedaris]] has said that he enjoys feeding insects to spiders and watching as they devour them.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4247938 | format = php | title = Fresh Air from WHYY | date= 2004-12-28}}</ref>
{{cquote|This is not a universal trait, though. Dennis Nilsen had difficulty initiating social contact with people, but loved his faithful companion, Bleep, a mongrel bitch. After his arrest, he was very concerned for her welfare, as she was taken to the police station too.<ref name="Helen Gavin 2013 120">{{cite book|author=Helen Gavin|title=Criminological and Forensic Psychology|pages=120|year=2013}}</ref>}}
==Research==
Alan R. Felthous reported in his paper "Aggression Against Cats, Dogs, and People" (1980):
Schedel-Stupperich ([[2001]]) state that some [[horse-ripping]] incidences have a sexual connotation, and in general, the link between [[sadistic]] sexual acts with animals and sadistic practices with humans or lust murders has been heavily researched. Some murderers [[tortured]] animals in their childhood, with some of them also practicing [[bestiality]]. Ressler et al. ([[1988]]) found that 36% of sexual murderers described themselves as having abused animals during childhood, with 46% of them reporting that they had abused animals during adolescence, and (1986) that 8 of their sample of 36 sexual murderers showed an interest in [[zoosexual]] acts.
In [[1971]], American researchers profiled the typical animal harmer as being a nine-and-a-half-year-old boy, with an IQ of 91 and a history of [[Child abuse|gross parental abuse]]. The UK "[[Young Abusers Project]]" sees children as young as five who have a record of sexual offences or 'extremely' violent behaviour. Of such people, they comment:
{{cquote|A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well, including one patient who had murdered a boy.<ref>{{Cite journal | last = Felthous | first = Alan R. | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | author2-link = | title = Aggression Against Cats, Dogs, and People | journal = Child Psychiatry and Human Development | volume = 10 | pages = 169–177 | date = | year = 1980 | url = | doi = 10.1007/bf01433629| id = | postscript = <!--None--> }}</ref>}}
:''"They stamp on small hamsters or mice. Squeeze them or burst them, set fire to their fur. Gratuitous cruelty for which there can be no justification. ... A high proportion have a learning disability."''
The author comments that it is:
: ''this combination of extreme "cruelty to animals, if also accompanied by a sexual interest in animals, [which] is a high-risk indicator of a future sex offender."'' [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/741856.stm]
Studies have shown that individuals who enjoy or are willing to inflict harm on animals are more likely to do so to humans. One of the known warning signs of certain psychopathologies, including [[antisocial personality disorder]], is a history of torturing pets and small animals. According to the ''[[New York Times]]'':
This is a commonly reported finding, and for this reason, cruelty to animals is often considered a warning sign of potential violence towards humans.
:''"the [[FBI]] has found that a history of cruelty to animals is one of the traits that regularly appears in its computer records of [[serial rape|serial rapists]] and [[serial killer|murderers]], and the standard diagnostic and treatment manual for psychiatric and emotional disorders lists cruelty to animals as a diagnostic criterion for [[conduct disorder]]s."'' [http://www.tulsaspca.org/articles/abuse_history.html] and
:''"A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well."'' [http://www.tulsaspca.org/articles/abuse_history.html]
This is a commonly reproduced finding, and for this reason, violence (including sexually oriented violence) towards animals, is considered a serious warning sign of potential serious violence towards humans.
==Legal status==
In the United States, since 2010, it has been a federal offense to create or distribute "obscene" depictions of "living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians ... subjected to serious bodily injury".<ref>Robson, Ruthann (2010-12-14) [http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/conlaw/2010/12/animal-porn-criminalized-by-federal-law-again.html Animal Porn - Criminalized by Federal Law Again] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110415045939/http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/conlaw/2010/12/animal-porn-criminalized-by-federal-law-again.html|date=2011-04-15}}, ''Constitutional Law Prof Blog''</ref> This statute replaced an overly broad 1999 statute<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/48.html|title=18 U.S. Code § 48 - Animal crush videos|website=LII / Legal Information Institute|accessdate=23 April 2018|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121143325/http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/48.html|archivedate=21 November 2011}}</ref> which was found unconstitutional in ''United States v. Stevens''.
===Modern research findings===
In 2019, The United States Congress passed a well known PACT Act (Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act)
Over the past 50 years, modern research has confirmed that not all sexual activity with animals is violent nor dangerous. This preconception has been criticized by researchers, for the bias that can result within bona fide research into zoosadism and abuse. Older research, often focused on known abusers such as violent [[Juvenile delinquency|juvenile offenders]], and generalizations from such studies have often been criticized post-publication as being tainted by circular reasoning, [[argument from incredulity|arguments from incredulity]], and other fallacies:
:''"There are different people who engage in sex with animals and not the kind of interaction but first and foremost the quality of the relationship seems to distinguish between them. This emotional relation or at least the respect they show towards the will of the involved animal should be more closely investigated, when conducting research that includes [[bestiality]]. Because [it is] this, the quality of the interaction and the relationship – that may be loving, neutral, or violent – and not the fact of a sexual interaction [which] is important, and provides information for a better understanding of bestiality and zoophilia and their significance in relation to other phenomena."''
:Source: Andrea Beetz -- "Love, Violence, and Sexuality in Relationships between Humans and Animals"
Kidd and Kidd ([[1987]]) identified that:
''Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,''
:''"most of these older research and models rarely took the variety of possible interactions and relations into account, studying the physical acts in isolation."''
Andrea Beetz, comments that perhaps because of this:
This Act may be cited as the “Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act” or the “PACT Act”.<ref>H.R.724 PACT ACT <nowiki>https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2019/10/22/house-section/article/H8355-1</nowiki></ref>
:''"In most [popular] references to bestiality, violence towards the animal is automatically implied. That sexual approaches to animals may not need force or violence but rather, sensitivity, or knowledge of animal behavior, is rarely taken into consideration."''
In the same manner, Dr. LaFarge, an assistant professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the New Jersey Medical School and sex therapist, who is the Director of Counseling at the [[ASPCA|American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals]] and works with the [[New York (state)|New York]] correctional system, is quoted in a media article (1999) as reporting that:
Similar to the 2010 law. However, there has been speculation on the actual meaning, whether it was causing death for sexual gratification, or simple bestiality. Such as the case law involving a man who was imprisoned for obscene material and bestiality. (Reference is missing, will need to be researched)
:''"it's important to make the distinction [between animal sexual abuse and zoophilia]"''
and that:
:''"There is no evidence yet that zoophilia leads to sexual deviation, but that's not to say that's not the case. We do make the link between other forms of physical violence against animals as being a predicator of physical violence against women and children. I would go on to say that someone who is sexually violent with an animal ... is a predator and might very well do that toward people."'' [http://www.riverfronttimes.com/issues/1999-12-15/news2_full.html]
Professors Weinberg and Williams of the [[Kinsey Institute]] stated in testimony to the Missouri House (1999) that:
The PACT Act in 2019 was to strengthen the 2010 law that makes the depiction of animal cruelty a crime, but allows the cruelty itself to go unpunished.<ref>https://www.zoovilleforum.net/resources/h-r-724-pact-act.26/updates</ref>
:''"No one can argue about the objective harm resulting from a behavior like [[rape]]. Such harm arises from the absence of consent and the [[Psychological trauma|trauma]] that accompanies and follows from the act ... Our research suggests that forcing sex on an unwilling animal is rare among adult zoophiles ... The question of consent is usually conflated with the question of harm, which we believe to be the better question. Zoophiles appear to be extremely caring and concerned for their animal(s) and people who know them would be hard put to claim abuse. Implicit in [the bill] is that sex with an animal in itself constitutes abuse."''
Beetz (2002) states categorically that:
==Criticism of alleged Link to violence against humans==
:''"Former, as well as the here presented research, suggests that zoophilia itself does not represent a clinically significant problem and is not necessarily combined with other clinically significant problems and disorders, even if it may be difficult for some professionals to accept this."''
On the other hand, Piers Beirne, a professor of criminology at the University of Southern Maine, has criticized existing studies for ignoring socially accepted practices of violence against animals, such as animal slaughter and vivisection, that might be linked to violence against humans.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=criminology |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2017-11-08 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107021521/http://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=criminology |archivedate=2017-11-07 }}</ref>
In the [[United States]], depictions of animal cruelty are in violation of federal law. The law, in effect since January 2006, makes illegal "any visual or auditory depiction, including any photograph, motion-picture film, video recording, electronic image, or sound recording of conduct in which a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded, or killed, if such conduct is illegal under Federal law or the law of the State in which the creation, sale, or possession takes place..."<ref>[http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00000048----000-.html US Code TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 3 > § 48]</ref>
==Notable zoosadists and incidents==
* [[John Travers]]
* [[Henry Lee Lucas]]
* [[Brendan McMahon]]
* [[Robert Garrow]]
* In [[September 2006]], two brothers from [[Atlanta, Georgia]], were accused of "covering a puppy with paint, hog tying it, trying to set it on fire and when that didn't work, baking the puppy to death in an oven." <ref>http://www.wsbtv.com/news/9796419/detail.html</ref>
* [http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=1357 ''TheLocal.se'' article on Swedish government's report on sex with animals 2005]
* [http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/wb/xp-102306 Cockfighting bill approved 7-5 in Senate committee]
* Two teenagers set a kitten on fire in [[Cotati]], [[California]] in 2007 <ref>http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/13708685/detail.html?rss=dgo&psp=news</ref>
* [[Dennis Rader]], confessed to have abused animals during childhood. <ref>http://www.kansas.com/215/story/19161.html</ref>
* [[Rostislav Bogoslevsky]], an [[Israel|Israeli]] suspected of two murders and an attempted one, and of abusing and killing approximately 500 cats. <ref>http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&cid=1178708624234&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull</ref>
* [[John Duffy and David Mulcahy]], [[England|English]] [[serial rape|serial rapists]] and [[serial killer|killers]].<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1546812,00.html</ref>
* [[Hannibal Lecter]], the popular character from a series of novels by [[Thomas Harris]], was described to have tortured animals as a child in ''[[Red Dragon]]''. Later, in ''[[Hannibal Rising]]'''s section on Hannibal's early childhood, this is apparently proved wrong; Hannibal is seen being kind to various animals, from feeding swans to befriending his famiy's horse, and no mention is made of any animal torture.
* [[Dexter Morgan]], from the novels by [[Jeff Lindsay]] and the later [[Showtime]] [[Dexter (TV series)|television series]], displayed [[sociopathic]] tendencies such as animal killing as a young child.
* [[Patrick Bateman]], the [[protagonist]] of [[American Psycho]] by [[Bret Easton Ellis]] tortures to death a small dog and a rat. This does not appear in the film version, although at one point he believes that an ATM wants him to feed it a kitten.
* In an episode of the sitcom "[[Titus (TV series)|Titus]]," [[Christopher Titus]] implies to a family therapist that his niece, Amy, kills cats. In a subsequent scene, Tommy Shafter asks Amy where his cat is, to which Amy replies, "He didn't suffer."
* A character in the [[Stephen King]] novel [[IT (novel)|''IT'']] murders animals by placing them in an old freezer.
* Young [[Michael Myers (Halloween)|Michael Myers]] is seen having murdered small animals and cats in [[Halloween (2007)|the 2007 remake]] of the film [[Halloween (1978 film)|''Halloween'']].
* A teenaged [[Freddy Krueger]] is seen murdering animals by crushing them in the film ''[[Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare]]''.
==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}}
* Ressler R, Burgess A, and Douglas J. (1988). ''Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives''. Lexington, Mass: Lexington Books.
* Andrea Beetz Ph.D.: ''Love, Violence, and Sexuality in Relationships between Humans and Animals'', ISBN 3-8322-0020-7
* Bradley J Hill : ''Homoerotic bestiality: a guide''. ISBM 3832200569
* Forensic Nursing: ''Four-legged Forensics: What Forensic Nurses Need to Know and Do About Animal Cruelty'' [http://www.forensicnursemag.com/articles/411clinical.html online version]
* Munro H. ''The battered pet'' (1999) In F. Ascione & P. Arkow (Eds.) Child Abuse, Domestic Violence, and Animal Abuse. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 199-208.
==See also==
* [[Avisodomy]]
* [[Cat-burning]]
* [[Horse-ripping]]
* [[Zoophilia]]
* [[Animal abuse]]
* [[Domestic violence]]
==External links==
==External links==
* [http://www.forensicnursemag.com/articles/411clinical.html Four-legged Forensics: What Forensic Nurses Need to Know and Do About Animal Cruelty]
* [http://www.forensicnursemag.com/articles/411clinical.html Four-legged Forensics: What Forensic Nurses Need to Know and Do About Animal Cruelty]
* [http://www.nabr.org/AnimalLaw/index.htm National Association for Biomedical Research - Animal law section] (wide variety of material related to animal law, animal abuse and welfare, etc.
[[Category:Terms]]
* [http://www.pet-abuse.com/pages/cruelty_database.php Pet-Abuse.Com Database] ''Bestiality and sexual assault cases from the U.S. and UK''
* [http://www.sex-lexis.com/Sex-Dictionary/zoophilia ''sex-lexis'' reference sections on zoophilia, zoosadism and related topics]
* [http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=1357 ''TheLocal.se'' article on Swedish government's report on sex with animals 2005]
* [http://www.roanoke.com/politics/wb/wb/xp-102306 Cockfighting bill approved 7-5 in Senate committee]
Zoosadism is pleasure derived from cruelty to animals. It is part of the Macdonald triad, a set of three behaviors that are considered a precursor to psychopathic behavior.[1]
Zoophiles abhor with a passion zoosadism, as well as any cruelty to animals. In general, they find it particularly unsettling that sexually tainted cruelty to animals can easily find its way into the media and thus form an inaccurate image of "the zoophile".
Violent acts against animals are called zoosadism. A zoosadist tries to achieve physical and, above all, psychological satisfaction through his actions. Animals are usually easier for persons to reach than humans and cannot give him away directly. Zoosadism is cruelty to animals. The only difference is that animal cruelty often also arises from human greed for wealth or willfulness, or the animal is neglected out of disinterest, but the zoosadist acts out of an "inner drive".
Research
Some studies have suggested that individuals who are cruel to animals are more likely to be violent to humans. According to The New York Times:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI has found that a history of cruelty to animals is one of the traits that regularly appear in its computer records of Serial rape|serial rapists and Serial killer|murderers, and the standard diagnostic and treatment manual for psychiatric and emotional disorders lists cruelty to animals as a diagnostic criterion for conduct disorders.[2]
Helen Gavin wrote however in Criminological and Forensic Psychology (2013):
This is not a universal trait, though. Dennis Nilsen had difficulty initiating social contact with people, but loved his faithful companion, Bleep, a mongrel bitch. After his arrest, he was very concerned for her welfare, as she was taken to the police station too.[3]
Alan R. Felthous reported in his paper "Aggression Against Cats, Dogs, and People" (1980):
A survey of psychiatric patients who had repeatedly tortured dogs and cats found all of them had high levels of aggression toward people as well, including one patient who had murdered a boy.[4]
This is a commonly reported finding, and for this reason, cruelty to animals is often considered a warning sign of potential violence towards humans.
Legal status
In the United States, since 2010, it has been a federal offense to create or distribute "obscene" depictions of "living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians ... subjected to serious bodily injury".[5] This statute replaced an overly broad 1999 statute[6] which was found unconstitutional in United States v. Stevens.
In 2019, The United States Congress passed a well known PACT Act (Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act)
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act” or the “PACT Act”.[7]
Similar to the 2010 law. However, there has been speculation on the actual meaning, whether it was causing death for sexual gratification, or simple bestiality. Such as the case law involving a man who was imprisoned for obscene material and bestiality. (Reference is missing, will need to be researched)
The PACT Act in 2019 was to strengthen the 2010 law that makes the depiction of animal cruelty a crime, but allows the cruelty itself to go unpunished.[8]
Criticism of alleged Link to violence against humans
On the other hand, Piers Beirne, a professor of criminology at the University of Southern Maine, has criticized existing studies for ignoring socially accepted practices of violence against animals, such as animal slaughter and vivisection, that might be linked to violence against humans.[9]
