Children and minors with weapons for hunting as if nothing had happened. It happened at the EOS–European Outdoor show, the hunting, sport shooting, outdoor, hunting and gastronomic tourism fair, which was held in Parma at the end of March and whose organization allowed even the littlest ones to enter.
A nice way, we would say, to sensitize the new generations to empathy and respect for animals, if we consider that such a gesture certainly leads to making something normal that is not normal: the valorization of the use of weapons, starting precisely from their application in hunting.
It is known that children tend to internalize what they see legitimized by adults – they explain from LAV. If a public environment presents hunting as a normal, regulated and socially accepted practice, younger people are likely to deduce that it is a positive or otherwise desirable activity.
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And precisely on the topic of youth and violence, LAV presented research involving more than a thousand pre-adolescents in 16 Italian regions, carried out by Ciro Troiano, criminologist and head of the LAV Zoomafia Observatory.
LAV research
The investigation “You don’t torture butterflies” involved 1300 middle school students, between 11 and 14 years old and was carried out in the 2024/25 school year in lower secondary schools, in 26 Italian cities in 16 regions: Abruzzo, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Piedmont, Puglia, Tuscany, Umbria, Sardinia, Sicily and Veneto.
Made up of various questions with the aim of understanding the relationship that young people create with animals from an early age, a very first fact immediately stood out: only 6% of participants declared they were afraid of animals.
Almost 42% of the sample submitted to the questionnaire responded that they had personally witnessed the mistreatment of an animal in different ways and forms:
The comments
Among the comments left by the participants you can read reactions, feelings and observations that each of them goes through when relating to animals: “I have seen pigs killed for meat, I have seen dogs beaten and chickens killed and then sheep slaughtered” (eleven-year-old boy); while a thirteen-year-old states: “Down in my neighborhood there are kids who make pit bulls fight with other dogsAnd again “And nothing, I crushed a little something, frogs, insects, lizards etc. I can’t explain, I like the feeling it gives” (thirteen year old girl) and “I kicked an annoying and annoying dog and I did well and everyone should do it, a good kick in the face of a dog” concludes a thirteen year old.
Almost 30% of the violence witnessed was committed by family members – comments Ciro Troiano – The family environment, therefore, for these children represented the framework for the mistreatment of animals seen and this can negatively influence their development and generate the habit of violence as something normal.
69.38% of the sample declared that they had never mistreated an animal, while 8.07% declared that they had voluntarily mistreated an animal, of which 12.15% were males and 4% females and 11.39% admitted to doing so often. An interesting fact is that 68.57% of those who admitted to mistreating animals also witnessed other people mistreating animals.
The forms of mistreatment carried out are various and to the detriment of different species: killing insects, cutting off the tails of lizards, beating dogs and cats, but also catching birds and various organized and systematic violence – continues Troiano – The mistreatment of animals by children is a complex phenomenon, which arises from the intertwining of personal, cognitive and emotional factors, as well as from social learning mechanisms, such as imitation.
Where do acts of mistreatment arise from?
The main reason that gives rise to acts of mistreatment towards animals by children and pre-adolescents that emerges from the survey is entertainment (39.04%), following:
What does it feel like?
29.52% responded that they felt guilty and 19.04% that they were sad. Following this, 17.14% said they had fun and 15.23% said they felt a “pleasant sensation”. 10.47% sometimes feel sorry but not always, while 4.76% responded that they feel serenity regarding these actions and finally 3.80% do not feel remorse.
The results of the study highlight a complex and detailed relationship between pre-adolescents and the animal world. The role of witnessed animal abuse is particularly relevant, especially when the acts of violence are perpetrated by family members – concludes Troiano.
The only real prevention? This time too, it goes through education. Cultivating sensitivity, empathy and respect for every form of life from an early age means building a healthier relationship with animals and combating every form of violence at its root. The data clearly shows how urgent it is to invest in educational paths and targeted interventions capable of strengthening awareness of the consequences of one’s actions and promoting a culture of respect that starts from childhood and accompanies the new generations in their development.
HERE is the full report.
