Hitting, punching, beating, slapping, pulling hair, use of weapons, mutilation, burning, biting;
Any forced sexual contact ranging from unwanted touching to rape, harassment;
Threats, insults, name-calling, unjust blaming and accusing, swearing, shouting;
Withholding love, sympathy or understanding, inadequate physical or emotional care, isolation, intimidation, extreme jealousy, destroying property, threatening to commit suicide;
Stealing, withholding money and/or denying access to employment opportunities, preventing access to household financial information;
Belittling a person's spiritual beliefs or preventing them from attending the church, synagogue or temple of their choice;
Delivering threatening or harassing messages through one or more of the following: e-mail; text message; social networks (such as Facebook and Twitter); chat rooms; message boards; newsgroups; and forums. Other variations of cyber-abusing include the following:
sending inappropriate electronic greeting cards;
posting personal advertisements in the victim's name;
creating Web sites that contain threatening or harassing messages or that contain provocative or pornographic photographs, most of which have been altered;
sending viruses to the victim's computer;
using spy-ware to track Web site visits or record keystrokes the victim makes; and
sending harassing messages to the victim's employers, co-workers, students, teachers, customers, friends, families or churches or sending harassing messages forged in the victim's name to others.
Over the past 25 years, several studies have confirmed the link between animal cruelty and human violence.
The American FBI analyzed the lives of serial killers and discovered that virtually all of them, as children and teens, had killed or tortured animals. Other research indicates consistent patterns of animal cruelty among perpetrators of wife abuse, child abuse and elder abuse.
Maltreatment of pets is often another way that abusers exert control over their victims. Abusers may harm – or threaten to harm – an animal in order to intimidate, re-affirm their position of power in the household, or keep their partners from leaving.
Intake interviews with women in shelters revealed that a high proportion of them delayed leaving an abusive home – thus putting themselves in greater danger – for fear of what might happen to their pets. Increasingly, shelters are taking steps to resolve this problem. Nova Vita, for example, has arranged with the local SPCA to take in a woman's pet while she resides at the shelter.
Intentional animal cruelty/abuse can involve depriving an animal of food, water, shelter, socialization or veterinary care, or maliciously torturing, maiming, mutilating or killing an animal. Cruelty to animals can be exhibited in children as young as four years, and should never be ignored or minimized. If your child has deliberately harmed an animal, seek help from a counsellor or pediatrician.
