[Warsaw Times Union]

As a court-appointed special advocate, or CASA volunteer, one aspect Valerie Clarkson looks at when visiting a home is how the pets are treated and how they respond to their masters.

"I guarantee you if they're abusing or neglecting an animal, they're neglecting someone in that home," the Animal Welfare League executive director and ordained minister said. "The link is, when it comes to animals, an abuser will first beat on an animal as an example."

The link between animal abuse and later cruel behavior has been well documented in the case of mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer and Columbine High School shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

Clarkson recently attended a conference where Frank R. Ascione's book, "Children and Animals, Exploring the Roots of Kindness and Cruelty" and "Silent Victims" by Pamela Carlisle Franks and Tom Flanagan were discussed.

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full story: http://www.timeswrsw.com/N1024066.HTM