Animals as Victims

Abstract

There is a seemingly ignored class of victims within society. These are the animal victims of interpersonal relationships, illegal animal fighting, and animal hoarding. This victimization occurs within the context of such situations as child abuse and neglect, and intimate partner violence. In addition, recent television shows have brought to the forefront the plight of animals in cases of illegal animal fighting and animal hoarding that are often related to other criminal offenses. In order to break the mold of conventional thinking, a focus must be placed on this form of victimization, which could provide an in‐depth view of co‐occurrences of human criminal behavior. This essay explores these relationships and provides a forum in which to study a nearly forgotten segment of societal victims.