People who abuse animals often end up harming or threatening other people. That fact has been well established by a host of studies.

Only rarely, however, do we find two direct examples in the news on a given day. 

In the first case, the Maine Attorney General’s Office is seeking a court order to prevent a Lewiston man from contacting women he’s victimized in the past.

Although only 27, Joshua Drew has developed a long history of abusing women: four convictions for domestic violence assault, five violations of conditional releases and two violations of protection from abuse orders.

He also has a telling conviction for animal abuse for beating and kicking a Livermore Falls woman, then killing her cat.

As if this isn’t frightening enough, court records say he has shown no remorse for his crimes.

“I do not feel remorse and I am not sorry for the things I have done,” Drew once wrote on a jail form. “My only regret is that I didn’t do worse to the women I assaulted.”

This man will clearly remain a danger to women when he is released from the Cumberland County Jail this fall.

In another case reported Tuesday, Nijie Bradley, 22, is accused of killing a cat by hurling it against a wall and then to the pavement. Bradley had been arguing with his girlfriend when, in a rage, he killed the cat.

Both cases illustrate typical behavior: threatening, torturing or harming a pet to punish or control a partner’s behavior.

One study has shown that a history of pet abuse is one of the four most significant indicators of future domestic abusers.

A Texas study found that people who abuse pets are even more dangerous and violent than abusers who do not.

A number of separate studies have found that between 18 and 48 percent of battered women and their children delay leaving an abusive situation for fear of what might happen to their pets.

In 2006, Maine became one of the first states in the U.S. to pass a law allowing animals to be included in protection from abuse orders, according to the New York Times.

The law was passed after an Ellsworth woman told legislators she was afraid to leave her abusive husband because he would kill all of the animals on their 32-acre farm.

He had already run over her blind and deaf border collie, shot two sheep and killed two prized turkeys.

Several serial killers, including Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz and Jeffrey Dahmer, tortured, dismembered or killed animals as children.

Rocco Magnotta, the man recently arrested for a grisly slaying and dismemberment of a Montreal man, was previously reported to have been behind a series of kitten-killing videos posted on the Internet before this even more heinous crime.

Clearly, these people are sick and dangerous.

We all have to be aware that mistreatment is often a precursor to violence against other human beings.

Whether it be children or adults, when you see or suspect animal abuse or domestic violence, contact local police or Maine State Police at 207-866-2121.

rrhoades@sunjournal.com

The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.

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