The animal abusers who deserve to be put down – Helen Martin

THIS might be hard to believe, but there are some people I hate and loathe, far more than the leading Brexiteers, who I completely disagree with and find both threatening and annoying.
Novo was beaten and drowned in a hot tubNovo was beaten and drowned in a hot tub
Novo was beaten and drowned in a hot tub

Apart from Boris, I don’t think the rest deserve to be jailed. Some of the Boris crew should perhaps be fined, as might be the case if we stay in the EU and legislation on tax havens is introduced next year, but voting Leave and politically fighting for it can’t be considered a crime.

Across Scotland, the UK, the EU and ideally the whole world, there should be harsh punishment, massive fines and long jail sentences for those who (I have to admit) I would be likely to assault or attack if I caught them in their barbaric acts of cruelty to animals.

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Recently a couple in Prestonpans were heartbroken and traumatised, to put it mildly, when their 11-month-old dog Novo was murdered. His head, nose and legs were battered and he was drowned in their hot tub with the lid closed on him. How could that have happened other than at the hands of evil humans who should be locked in a cage?

What sort of sadistic monsters would do such a thing and (dear God, it’s hard to say this) must have enjoyed it?

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Dogs trained to kill cats

At the same time, the news story of an Ayrshire man being jailed for a mere ten months hit the headlines. Mark Cuthbert had three dogs who were not to blame for the way he trained and encouraged them. He bought cats on the Gumtree website.

I have no idea why anyone would be daft enough to sell their pets on Gumtree rather than safely give them to a rehoming centre that finds them a good home. I presume Cuthbert lied to them.

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His pastime was to acquire pet cats and train his dogs to attack and kill them, along with rats and ­badgers, ­horror scenes he filmed on his phone. The poor dogs are now with the ­Scottish SPCA who investigated him and brought him to court.

Along with the ten months, likely to be reduced like most sentences, he was banned from keeping animals for ten years. Jail for ten years and a lifetime ban makes more sense to me.

These people enjoy torturing, ­causing agony, fear, and watching the creatures die. Psychology and ­criminology research repeatedly states that people who commit such animal abuse often move on to human victims and, as the FBI accepts, may become serial killers.

Dangerous, serious criminals

An Australian police study even discovered that 100 per cent of sexual homicide offenders they investigated and examined had a history of animal cruelty.

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Not everyone has, like me, always had animals in their life. Many don’t want pets at all. That doesn’t mean to say they want them tortured and destroyed.

But realising that those who do kill and abuse animals may just be training up to move on to equally vulnerable children and adults, should inspire us all, and our courts, to treat them as serious criminals or dangerous psychopaths.

A Scottish Government consultation has recently called for those committing offences to wildlife to face harsher punishment.

Hunting, shooting, battering or illegally trapping wildlife deserves severe penalties, even though some disgusting people interpret that as a ‘sport’.

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But animal abusers who get thrilled and high from watching any animals, including pets who have come to know and trust humans and be part of people’s families, suffer, scream, cry, whine and die, are not just as bad, but even worse, and cause long-term agony to the owners.

We seriously need to consider longer prison sentences, psychological assessments and lifetime bans.

I have to personally admit that I think they should be “put down”.