Sadique de 8 ans, «a besoin d'aide»...

[Animal 0]

Boy in pet-killing case needs help now: expert

Last Updated: Friday, July 30, 2010
CBC News

A small boy in rural Newfoundland who has been accused of killing local
animals requires immediate treatment to steer him away from greater dangers,
one of Canada's foremost experts in child protection says.

Authorities say an eight-year-old boy in Stoneville, on Newfoundland's
northeast coast, killed a neighbour's dog with a barbecue fork in June and
this week bludgeoned another family's pet chickens to death.

Kathleen Kufeldt, a former chair in child protection at Memorial University
in St. John's, said there is no question that health-care workers need to
intervene in the boy's case.

"If this youngster is not treated early, and if the home situation is a bad
one, not taken from that home early, then the chances are that he's going to
grow up into a sadistic adult who's going to do a lot of damage," Kufeldt
told CBC News.

Kufeldt said both the child and the community around him are at risk unless
professionals take action.

Central Health, the regional authority that manages hospitals and many
health services in central Newfoundland, declined to comment on the kind of
help that is available for the boy, although a spokesperson questioned
whether there is even a mental health issue in the case or whether the boy
is simply a "bad kid."

RCMP are investigating this week's incident.

Thorough assessment needed

Kufeldt said the boy needs to be thoroughly assessed, possibly at a hospital
outside Newfoundland and Labrador.

She said she believes if the boy cannot get the treatment he needs close to
home, he would be better served to leave the province to attend a treatment
centre.

Neighbours in Stoneville told CBC News they are worried about what the boy
is capable of doing next. Kufeldt said they are right to be concerned.

"They should start worrying at the first symptoms, and you've described some
very serious symptoms already," said Kufeldt.


http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/07/30/boy-pets-sto
neville.html#ixzz0vL1o5LVQ