>>I don’t care who it was they need to be punished.<<\
I agree. I think where we differ is on just how much they should be punished. Peta says something like “A Boy is a Dog is a Pig is a Rat...”. For them, doing this to a kitten is the moral equivalent of doing it to a “boy”.
Reasonable people differ from that perspective - quite a bit actually. The punishment should fit the crime, however. That said, I’m trying to find anything in my constitution about kittens, unless they are the property of another person of course.
I mean, the parents should do something, yes - but the state?
This kind of cruelty is a sign of mental illness. It’s a warning that something is very wrong and it needs to be followed up. Society has a right to protect itself from those that lack empathy or compassion.
Animal cruelty is and should be a punishable crime.
Human civilization requires it.
Even ancient civilizations required humans to refrain from cruelty to animals.
They may be property but they are property that feel pain and fear. They are not chairs or desks that can feel no pain and have no consciousness.
And it is also true that people who commit torture to animals very often are abusive and cruel to humans.
PS - the Constitution doesn’t list every law that should be on the books.