Children who are abused may be the victims of adults who have practiced previously and continuously on helpless animals. Those children may themselves learn to victimize animals out of their own rage and need for control. They will choose something or someone more vulnerable than they are. Children have their beloved pets slaughtered in front of them, usually by a parent, to ensure their silence about incidents of physical abuse including sexual crimes.

There is evidence that indicates these children do not let themselves be
close to animals in the future and thereby give someone the power to
hurt and control them ever again. The instances of individuals,
incarcerated for violent crimes, who admit to repeated animal abuse and
torture prior to similar activities towards humans is pronounced. It is
easy to make excuses for apparently isolated violent events with "boys
will be boys." It will take more effort and hard work to take notice
of red flags when they appear. But they must be noticed. Those red
flags are going to save lives. People would be alive today if the
knowledge of red flags had been reported to appropriate sources.
Children who dissect, explode, and break legs on animals need our
attention and the earlier the better. These are not childhood pranks.
As these children grow into teens and then adults, at no point will
their prior experiences just evaporate.