I am a nonvegetarian, and being from Kerala, I eat most kinds of meat. I am also a person who likes animals. Yes, I can be both, contrary to the image given to nonvegetarians by many vegetarians and vegans – not the sensible, nonjudgmental ones who understand the concept of a food chain. Why I started with this introduction is to make it clear that like most nonvegetarians, I am someone who doesn’t believe in hurting or killing animals for fun, sport, or fashion. While the abovementioned vegetarians and vegans will jump into this discussion questioning the logic of what I just said and saying that a food chain–related eating habit is animal cruelty, that is a debate for a later day. I thought of writing this because I have a couple of examples of extremely disturbing animal cruelty that was shared with me, and I wanted to write about those psychopaths (for lack of a better word) to let the world know that people like this exist.
I have seen people, kids and adults, try to squish a harmless insect, bug, or worm minding its business and going about its way and have often wondered why they have the urge to kill something that is doing them no harm. Many a time, I have stopped kids from indulging in this brutal pleasure, either with a stern warning or a kind lecture, whichever is more effective in a particular situation. While this cruelty is horrendous in itself, it is nothing compared to the kind of animal cruelty anecdotes shared with me by a couple of people.
The first came from a female colleague of mine from long back, whose husband, she proudly proclaimed, had a fun way of killing rats and mice. Don’t get me wrong, I do understand why people will have to resort to culling measures when it comes to pests that spread diseases. But in the act of killing for necessity itself, we can be kind to the victim. This man had a very weird way of catching the rats and mice alive and then torturing them for hours – in the most horrific ways possible, amputating different parts of the body – before the poor animals succumbed to their injuries. This lady went on to explain his “process” in detail, while I, along with another colleague, sat there with our eyes wide with terror. What made me dumbstruck more than his acts were the fun with which this lady was explaining her hero’s adventures. I couldn’t believe my eyes or my ears sitting there. I just remember telling her that I found it really pathetic and leaving the table.
As if one psycho story was not enough, a few months back, I happened to meet a distant relative of mine whose parents asked her to share with me the “fun” way in which she killed mosquitoes – I don’t know why they felt I would be interested in it in the first place. As a person who goes around with a mosquito bat and kills as many mosquitoes as I can before bedtime every night, I probably shouldn’t act holier than thou here. But just like any other pest, a mosquito is something that necessitates killing, and while we all might be amassing God’s curses for the number of mosquitoes we kill in our lifetime, it’s something that has to be done. Even there, I am as quick as I can with the act of killing. But this girl went on to describe her methodical procedure of taking out every part of the body, wings and legs, of the poor mosquito while keeping it alive and enjoying the process of killing it slowly. She had a very satisfied and proud smile on her face as she talked about her pathetic actions. And just like my colleague, this girl’s parents seemed to be having fun listening to their darling daughter talk about her cruel exploits.
Now tell me, was I wrong in calling them psychopaths? What else should I call two people who find immense pleasure in inflicting the most painful, most brutal kind of torture on two living creatures who are just following nature in doing what they do? Yes, do kill them by all means to avoid intense infestation and the spread of diseases – that is the way of nature too when you look at it from a practical viewpoint. But what is the point of inflicting such long-drawn pain on them? What do these people achieve from it? Do they perhaps think that there are other rats or mosquitoes watching the torture their fellow being is going through and deciding to not mess with these torturers? Do they think that their kind will spread the word of what could happen to them if they dare set foot inside these torturers’ homes? I can find no practical reason for them doing this other than them being monsters who find a sick pleasure in this, in short, psychopaths.
Now that I have heard two different accounts of two different psychopaths enjoying the same kind of cruelty, I can’t help but wonder if there are more brutes like this in the world. There must be. And if they have this streak of brutality against innocent creatures, wouldn’t they also have the same streak of brutality against other people? I’m sure they do; it just doesn’t come out always, maybe for a fear of getting caught. But if they ever get a chance to inflict the same kind of torture on a fellow human being with complete assurance that they will not get caught, I really do believe that psychopaths like these would definitely do it.
All I know is that there is most definitely a very special place in hell, I’m sure, not just for these psychopaths but also the ones who laugh about these “funny” stories instead of taking them to a psychiatrist to get a certified psychopathic personality diagnosis.
Also published on Medium.
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