Violence against animals can be caused by a psychiatric disorder or can be committed intentionally. Stating that violence is not the only reason for violence, experts underlined that not every incident should be considered as a "disease".

Üsküdar University NPISTANBUL Hospital Psychiatry Specialist Assist. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dilek Meltem Taşdemir Erinç evaluated the incidents of violence against animals.

Reckless violence should be punished in accordance with the law

Stating that violence may occur as a symptom in some psychiatric illnesses, Erinç said, "However, it should not be forgotten that not every violent person is a psychiatric patient. The disease is treated, and reckless violence should be punished in accordance with the law. Associating every violence with a disease expands the scope of sociopaths and may threaten the deterrence of laws, and this issue should be paid special attention."

Every event activates different emotions in our inner world

"Every event, every piece of news activates different emotions in our inner world depending on the place it touches and the past experience it reminds us of," said Erinç and continued his words as follows: "If we look at the specific case of the news article in question, the emotional repercussions for people who care for a black dog of a similar age may not be the same as for someone with dog phobia. However, the common thing it triggered in all of us was conscience, pain and sadness. It made us say "This is violence". Again, if we go back to the specific incident, some of us felt a sense of guilt. We had failed to protect that tiny puppy all together. Again, within the framework of this guilt, we declared him an angel and tried to comfort him with the gesture we drew on his head in the pictures. Then, that was not enough, we tried to comfort ourselves by blaming his brutally severed legs on an accident; a human could not have done this; we denied it."

The common sides of violence: Not understanding pain, lack of empathy and lack of conscience

Stating that violence cannot be defined by a single reason, Erinç said: "For example, in the animal kingdom, a hungry animal attacking another animal to satisfy its hunger can be seen as a natural survival effort. Violence can include all behaviors such as murder, torture, assault, war, terror, oppression, intimidation, threats, blackmail, etc. It is easy to distinguish physical assault and violence from others. The concept of violence is rooted in power. According to physical or psychological criteria, power can be a tool of creativity, development and goodness, or it can be a tool of evil in itself. In addition to these, violence can be evaluated in two basic forms, either directed against oneself (self-mutilation, self-mutilation behavior that harms the body) or directed against the outside (against the living or the non-living; with or without a purpose). Violent behavior appears in society in different forms. The common aspects of violence in society can be defined as not understanding the pain of the other person or living being, lack of empathy and lack of conscience."