We were just talking about this in my Child Psych class...its very true that people who hurt animals also hurt children and sometimes thier wives. The first person to stop the abuse of children (way back in the "olden days") was a person in charge of stopping animal abuse...yes, animals were protected before children.

Also, animal control people are sworn Municiple Reporters (like teachers, doctors, etc.), this means that if they see anything that even remotely resembles abuse on a child they have to tell the police (or face jail time and fines). There is an established link between animal abusers and child abusers...I think its kind of good they are trained to keep an eye out for both.

It really is sickening...