Everlasting Battle against Animal Cruelty: Are We Making Progress?

Dear Colleagues,

Animal cruelty is a social phenomenon whose extension and impact are mostly still unknown. Only a few cases are reported even if some countries have adopted animal protection laws and had law enforcement against animal abuse. Pet animals as well as livestock and horses are often the victims but in some countries, even wild animals are the target of cruel actions. Animal cruelty has multiple and developing facets, sometimes not so noticeable because it is driven by excessive anthropomorphization or justified by cultural and economic reasons.

Today, we know that intentional cruelty towards animals is strongly correlated with other crimes including violence against children and women, homicides and drug trade. Sometimes animal abuse is even a sign of mental disorders in humans or it can be the sentinel of social degradation in human contexts.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present recent research about the different shapes of animal cruelty, its change and evolution with human society and the ethical and legislative framework that supports actions against it. Moreover, we aim to collect studies that illustrates strategies adopted to fight this phenomenon with successful or unsuccessful results obtained to oriented the decision making process of public authorities and their actions.

Dr. Simona Normando
Dr. Laura Contalbrigo
Guest Editors

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