What happens when we establish or break the connection with animals? How are humans designed to empathize with animals in neural mechanisms? How does violence against animals go against our nature?
Aysha Akhtar (Aysha Akhtar) is an expert in the fields of animal ethics and neuroscience . She studies the relationship between humans and animals, and how empathy for animals enriches humans themselves.
Aisha Akhta
Aisha's book "Compassion" cleverly combines medicine, social history and individual experience, showing how closely the well-being of humans and animals is.
What runs through this book is Akhta's own story. When she was a child, she suffered from school bullying and sexual assault at home. Everything changed until she met a puppy named Sylvester.
Dr. Akhta asked this, what will we get when we realize the kinship between humans and animals?
She travels the country and tells stories of all kinds of people, including a veteran, a serial killer, a gangster member and a farmer.
"Compassion" is a journey to understand the nature of human health. And ask, how do we affect human health in the deepest sense of our empathy for animals (or lack of empathy) ?
Recently, the translation documentary launched the Chinese version of "Compassion". Today I will share with you the exciting clips of this book.
How do police in New York City deal with animal abuse?
——Records of the Animal Malice Investigation Team of the New York Police Department
Author: Aisha Akhta, Xiaozhuang Translation
Excerpted from "Compassion: The Story of Us and Animals"
Outside a spacious seventh-floor auditorium, I stared at the skyline of Manhattan . Today, the Police Academy in Queens, New York held a training session on animal abuse for the police force. I first contacted the NYPD to find out how the current police officers deal with police calls regarding animal cruelty. As it turns out, New York is at the forefront of the times. The New York Police Department’s Animal Murderer Investigation Unit, led by Sheriff Mike Murphy, is the first detective team in the United States to investigate animal abuse full-time.
Murphy invited me to participate in this training course jointly organized by the New York Police Department and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals. The law requires police to investigate animal abuse when they see or receive reports. But until a few years ago, most of the policing work fell on the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Whenever the police receive a 911 call for animal cruelty, it is usually referred to the American Association for the Prevention of Animal Cruelty.
Now, through the new collaboration, the NYPD has played a major role in investigating animal abuse behavior and enforcing New York animal abuse laws. This change leads to a chain reaction. Suddenly, the number of men and women inspecting animal cruelty changed from about eighteen employees of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 34,000 police officers spread across five districts of New York.
Many animals add color to the lives of patients in Lima State Hospital.
In addition, the New York Police Department has set up a new detective team to investigate cases of animal abuse. Now, associations can focus on and provide instrumental support, such as training the entire police force to identify what animal cruelty is, understand animal protection laws, and know what to do if someone asks them to help a dog, cat or other animal in need.
This Saturday morning, three hundred men and women (from police rookies to senior sheriffs and detectives) squeezed into the auditorium. I sat near the front row, holding a cup of hot black coffee in my hand.The first person to speak on stage was Sergeant Murphy. His soft voice has a Brooklyn accent, which is not quite comparable to his body shape. I've been expecting a deep low growl from his thick neck and body.
"Ted Bondi , Jeffrey Damo, Dennis Red ," he said to the audience, "These people have had a history of harming animals before killing, eating, and dismembering people. When they do bad things to animals, they also do bad things to people. When investigating these crimes, they should meddle in other people's business. When investigating people, look at animals. When investigating animals, look at people."
A guy at Lima State Hospital known as the "FBI" and his cherished cat friend.
After Murphy’s brief opening remark, a young woman from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals took over the conversation. "If you have an animal case, please call us. We will help you. We have a hotline that will guide you on how to do it." The
The association's help hotline operates twenty-four hours a day, supporting the New York Police Department and guiding police how to handle and transport animals. Animals will be taken to their Animal Hospital on Ninety-Second Street in Manhattan or to one of the many partner veterinary hospitals in the area. In the hospital, veterinarians will provide medical services for free and will initiate forensic examinations and records if needed. It turns out that the last action helped to successfully prosecute animal abusers.
"Be prepared, there may be media," said the association representative. "Someone kicked a cat into the air 25 feet high. This video went crazy."
Next, a lawyer from the association stood up and asked the audience: "Who is there anyone here investigating an animal case?"
I looked around and only raised my hands sporadically.
"You will see the most common forms of animal cruelty, such as poor conditions, abandonment, locked in a car, thrown to extreme temperatures, and fighting beasts. Animal cruelty can be either public or inaction, It is suitable for any animal."
Next, she showed some photos. The audience, who had originally lost their eyes, suddenly became alert. One photo shows a cat drowned by bleach, and the other is an squirrel , which was hit by a gun bullet.
"Public act." she said. Then she showed the weak and thin animals and the animals with obvious and painful wounds on their bodies. "Neglecting abuse. The owner is obliged to provide veterinary care. 'I can't afford it' is not an excuse."
A man of homelessness for twenty-three years lives with his dog Marty in a tent in Santa Rosa, California. After Marty suffered severe eye injury, the man turned to “feeding pets for homeless people” for help.
All morning, one terrible picture and video were displayed on the screen. The cat was beaten bloody, the poisoned raccoon , and the burned rabbit. Then, a speaker projected a series of photos of the Colosseum and corresponding equipment: a cement dog pit full of feces and blood; a treadmill that forces the dog to run for the beasts for three hours at a time; a breeding rack for breeding dogs; a weight-bearing traction machine, heavy chains and spurs. All the equipment is made to watch animals kill each other. This is a big business.
Some of the largest cases investigated by the NYPD involve beast fighting. These activities go deep underground and have a wide network across the country and around the world. Murphy described to me a person they were investigating, who runs a cockfighting network in New York and often travels to and from Mexico . He was suspected of supervising more beast-fighting gangs there and possibly other crimes.
"Crime doesn't happen out of thin air," said John Goodwin of the American Humanitarian Association. "When violent elements bet big, trouble comes."
Dog fighting, cockfighting and other similar activities are associated with money laundering, drug trafficking, human trafficking, prostitution, gambling and gangs. Murphy often sends his team members to undercover to seep into the heavy defenses around the Beast Fighting Network. These investigations take months, sometimes years, and usually include detectives outside his team, each focusing on different associated crimes. "Where are beast fighting activities," said one host, "there will be gangs, guns, drugs and a lot of money."
Hens from Wendell Farm. That is, the so-called "free-range organic hen".
A burst of laughter broke out in the room, and I raised my head from the coffee cup. The large screen shows pictures of cockfighting utensils, including a blue book that looks like a passport, with gold lettering printed in large fonts on the cover: EL Rooster Official Records Book.
I laughed with the audience, but as a cockfighting video was played, everyone quickly woke up. I've never seen cockfighting before, and their violence and velocity shocked me. In the video, the men tied two roosters with spurs, put them in a cement pit, and then stepped back to watch. In almost a minute, the two chickens launched an attack and almost wiped out each other. Feathers, skin, bone fragments and blood were flying everywhere. I heard someone in the audience gasping: "Oh my God!"
The host said: "In the cockfighting competition, whoever sheds the most blood is the loser."
When I looked at the scene of the bloody battle pit, I imagined what kind of mentality makes people cause such pain, I thought, no, the host was wrong. In this battle, everyone is the loser.
Lunch break, and I and other detectives from Murphy's team sat in the private room reserved for the host and the speaker. The squad, which was established in 2015, initially assigned eight detectives. They all worked for the New York Police Department for many years—some were responsible for homicides, some were responsible for gang violence, and some were responsible for drug crimes, all of which were experienced. The detectives were so keen to share their animal investigation experience with me that I had a feeling that other policemen removed them from office because they no longer cared about "serious issues." Volunteers and Lulu from the
Protection Area will run to greet all visitors.
One of the detectives named Lisa Bergen showed me a photo of her two dogs, Paco and Pebbles. The dogs were lazily lying in the children's pool in the backyard, Paco looked satisfied with a squirting garden water pipe in his mouth. "I've been in the police force for almost seven years," Lisa told me, "but when I heard about this new investigation team, I applied and decided to join."
When I asked her why she did this, she showed me a photo from another phone. I was shocked. The photo shows a dog's body, burned to black. Someone wrapped the dog with a blanket and set it on fire.
"It's because of this," Lisa said. "They are innocent. You're speaking for silent people. You see, I've done a lot of domestic violence cases. I got a call from a victim, we went out, and they dropped the charges. At a different time they'll call again for help and then give up the charges again. These people don't want to sue. For animals, you don't need them to sue. You sue on their behalf, and you're always so grateful for this help. No matter how abused they are, they will show love when they get help."
This photo has attracted public attention to the plight of homeless people and their animal companions.
When I talked to another detective in the team, the last point was almost reiterated word by word. Tara Cucias told me: "Our team has a lot of tough street police, which is the most meaningful thing we have ever done. The animals are grateful. No matter how abuse they have been, they are always so grateful." After the break, we returned to the auditorium to watch X-ray images of fractures, rib fractures and skull trauma. I don't want to see any sad pictures anymore, so I spend more time observing the audience and curious about their reactions. Some policemen looked bored. Some people leaned on chairs, staring at the screen, and taking notes sloppy. Most are somewhere in between.
Howard Lawrence worked for the New York Police Department for twenty-five years before joining the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals, and he later told me that the feedback he received about the class ranged from police asking them to “put less photos, it’s disgusting” to “it’s the best course I’ve ever taken.” "At the beginning we received a lot of strong opposition, and everyone would say we have enough things to do. I started working in the police force in 1983, when bad driving and domestic violence would not be taken seriously. The situation is different now, and it has become a serious matter to deal with these. I hope the same thing will happen with animal abuse. Now more and more police officers understand this."
Now more and more police officers realize that animal abuse is part of a larger picture of social violence. The world is not all the most extreme forms of violence, with people who are at extremes in behavioral genealogy like Keith Jess Parson being the exception, and most animal cruelty is related to "daily" crimes.
When he was four years old, he and I had just played in the bushes for an afternoon.
People who abuse animals are more likely to commit other violent acts. A study of 261 male prisoners in moderate and highest-security prisons found that 43% of people had abused animals. Another study found that animal cruelty was particularly common among the most violent criminals, with investigators dividing 117 prisoners into violent criminals and non-violent criminals, with the probability of violent criminals being abused significantly higher than non-violent criminals (63% vs 11%) .
Massachusetts Association for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals (MSPCA) and psychologists from Northeastern University have jointly published a most famous study describing the link between animal cruelty and other crimes. Researchers identified 153 animal cruelty-treated people who were prosecuted by the association between 1975 and 1986 and checked whether they had any history of other criminal acts. It was found that 70% of animal cruelty have committed other crimes in the past decade, including interpersonal violence, property damage and drug crimes. Compared with the control group, the researchers concluded that animals abused people were three times more likely to be drunk or disrupt order, four times more likely to commit property crimes, and five times more likely to commit violence against people.
Chicago Police Department found similar results in a recent study. Of the 332 cases of arrest for animal abuse, 86% of the suspects have a history of multiple arrests. 70% have a prior record of felony charges; 68% have a prior record of drug trafficking or drug trafficking; 65% have been prosecuted for assault; 59% are suspected of gang members; 27% have been charged with guns; 13% have been arrested for sexual crimes. Investigators said the study “reveals a surprising tendency to commit other violent crimes against human victims” by criminals accused of committing crimes against animals.
Tommy tried to soothe cow , whose limbs were deeply trapped in the pond. The cow is twenty-one years old, the oldest cow in the reserve and the mother of three children.
The link between violence against animals and other crimes is so strong that the way the FBI recently tracks animal abuse has also made significant changes. Prior to this, the crimes were classified as “other” when local police across the United States reported cases of animal abuse to the FBI’s national incident reporting system. As a result, data on animal cruelty was collected, if any, was very little. With recent changes, the FBI will now collect data on animal cruelty as it does on murder and rape. Animal cruelty is classified as a Group A crime and includes four subcategories: minor/severe neglect, intentional abuse and torture, organized abuse such as dog fighting, and animal sexual abuse. With these new categories, the FBI can obtain richer and more detailed data on abuse.
Perhaps the most exciting thing I have heard from Howard Lawrence is that not only is law enforcement becoming more and more aware that crimes against animals are closely linked to crimes against humans, but police are also beginning to think about animals. They will bring all kinds of animals to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty for help than ever before. Dogs, cats, chickens, Guinea pigs, , hamsters, birds, you can think of them. And often, policemen end up bringing many animals home to become new members of the family.
*The illustrations in the article are from "Company"
loneliness, violence, and companionship.
Health is a kind of empathy for life.
How we treat animals,
also how we treat ourselves.
"Company"
[USA] by Aisha Akhta, Xiaozhuang Translation
Shanghai Translation Publishing House
Content introduction
What happens when we establish or break the connection with animals? How are humans designed to empathize with animals in neural mechanisms? How does violence against animals go against our nature?
Dr. Akhta is an expert in animal ethics and neuroscience. She studies the relationship between humans and animals, and how empathy for animals enriches humans themselves.
"Compassion" cleverly combines medicine, social history and individual experience, showing how closely intertwined the well-being of humans and animals.
What runs through the whole story is Akhta's own story. When she was a child, she suffered from school bullying and sexual assault at home. Everything changed until she met a puppy named Sylvester.
Dr. Akhta asked with this, what will we get when we recognize the kinship between humans and animals? She travels the country and tells stories of all kinds of people, including a veteran, a serial killer, a gangster member and a farmer.
"Compassion" is a journey to understand the nature of human health, and ask, how can our empathy for animals (or lack of empathy) affect human health in the deepest sense?
(excerpted from the WeChat public account non-fiction time, (US) Aisha Akhta/text)
