Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Child Abuse & Neglect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chiabuneg Research Article Animal cruelty as an indicator of family trauma: Using adverse childhood experiences to look beyond child abuse and domestic violence Melissa A. Bright a, ⁎ , Mona Sayedul Huq b , Terry Spencer c , Jennifer W. Applebaum c , Nancy Hardt d a University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA b Department of Health Education and Behavior, University of Florida, USA c College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, USA d Departments of Pathology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Florida, USA ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Adverse childhood experiences Child maltreatment Animal cruelty Domestic violence Juvenile justice ABSTRACT Youth who engage in animal cruelty are known to be at increased risk of perpetrating violence on other people in their lives including peers, loved ones, and elder family members. These youths have often been exposed to family violence, including animal cruelty perpetrated on their be- loved pets by violent adults. The current study utilizes a data set of 81,000 juvenile offenders whose adverse childhood experiences are known and includes 466 youth who self-report enga- ging in animal cruelty. Compared to the larger group of juvenile offenders, the children admitting to engaging in animal cruelty are younger at time of first arrest, more likely to be male, and more likely to be White. When looking at their reports of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), they are more likely than other juvenile offenders to have an array of adverse experiences beyond family violence and to have four or more ACEs. Although the youth who are cruel to animals are already troubled, the fact that they present to law enforcement at early ages provides early opportunities for intervention. Service providers outside the law enforcement field, such as teachers, physicians, veterinarians and animal control officers may be able to identify these vulnerable youth, and refer them to needed services before violence is visited on other humans. 1. Introduction Animal cruelty can be observed or reported to child-serving adults including teachers, health professionals, veterinarians, animal control, and law enforcement. Although ample literature links animal cruelty with childhood exposure to family violence and per- petration of violence towards humans, review of a large cohort of youth who admit to animal cruelty indicates that they present to service providers earlier in life than other juvenile offenders. Because of their early encounters with youth-serving professionals, they may have more opportunities for early intervention. After discovering cruelty to animals, adults can ask, “What happened to you?” and begin a trauma informed and trauma responsive course of action for these vulnerable youths. Cruelty to animals includes intentional and unintentional acts of abuse, neglect, torture, and abandonment of animals such as orchestrated fighting, burns, blunt force trauma, sharp force injuries, gun and projectile injuries, asphyxia and drowning, sexual abuse, and poisoning (Thompson, 2014). Acts of animal cruelty by children is one of the earliest symptoms of conduct disorder (Frick https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.11.011 Received 15 May 2017; Received in revised form 3 November 2017; Accepted 15 November 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Anita Zucker Center for Excellence in Early Childhood Studies PO Box 117050. E-mail address: Mbright08@ufl.edu (M.A. Bright). Child Abuse & Neglect 76 (2018) 287–296 0145-2134/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T