[Pistias]

What gives with people wanting to hurt animals?

You don't get it because you're probably too much of a sweetheart to get it. IMHO, (I not being much of a sweetheart, or at least being acquainted with being an @$$hole) people hurt animals for the same reason they hurt other people--convenience, or to refute their own weakness by exercising power over another.

[steve-b]

Yeah, and positions of petty authority attract such people, which is why they need to be carefully screened. (The accounts that have been coming out about airport security people reflect the same phenomenon, though acted out to a lesser degree because they are under more public scrutiny.)

[truenospinzone]

or to refute their own weakness by exercising power over another.

Exactly. This guy has probably violated a prisoner or two with a broom handle as well; no one could do this to a kitten(s) and have ANY respect for human life.