From the author: I lived in Khabarovsk for 10 years, and what is happening in this city resonates with me! I decided to support the topic of the petition and flash mob dedicated to the ban on sadism against animals, not just in an emotional response, but with my knowledge, through this article. I learned about what happened in the city of Khabarovsk from my classmate. After clicking on the link, at first I couldn’t believe my eyes!... Today a new hashtag appeared in the VK and Facebook news feed: #knacker_khabarovsk_inprison. And I realized that I couldn’t stay away, but it was possible to comment on this from a psychological point of view. Therefore, this article is devoted to the topic of zoosadism and zoo aggression. Sadism is getting pleasure and enjoyment from causing pain to another person. There are several known forms of manifestation of sadism: sexual, psychological and autosadism directed at oneself. Psychiatrists believe that this pathology manifests itself in those people who were raised aggressively in childhood. If parents or educators used too harsh punishments and constantly caused pain to the child, then he will perceive this pattern of behavior as natural. Zoosadism is a type of sadism in which the means of obtaining pleasure (including sexual pleasure) is cruel treatment of animals. The term was introduced by the German writer, director and cultural critic Ernest Bornemann. But please note that sadism is not always associated with obtaining sexual satisfaction! Therefore, in the future I will use the term “animal aggression”, since the sexual context of what happened is not obvious to me. Zoo aggression - damage to wildlife, cruelty to animals. Includes poaching, animal theft, and other human activities that damage fauna. Zoo aggression is a psychopathology that can develop from childhood or manifest itself temporarily. Western sociologists conducted a study that established a connection between cruelty to animals and cruelty to children. According to him, "... of the 57 families in New Jersey in which children were abused, 50 also abused animals. And experts who studied 23 British families in which animals were abused found that in 83% of these, children are abused or neglected... Thus, children who torture animals are most likely simply repeating what they observe at home; like their parents, they react with violence to anger or irritation... Domestic cruelty is the most common cause of child cruelty. towards animals." D.V. Zhmurov. Zoo aggression in children and adolescents. The causes of zoo aggression can be: mental and behavioral disorders; hostile motives (displaced/indirect aggression in the form of revenge, envy, hatred). aggression towards humans. the need for power, as well as feelings of competition, excitement, superiority over animals through their torture, cruel games with them. I assume that while still children or teenagers, Khabarovsk women, out of curiosity and so-called “cognitive” aggression, could be very carried away by an invented game, “played too much,” and caused irreparable harm to the animal. In addition to great cruelty, animal aggression is characterized by: Recidivism - a constant desire to repeat what was done, Provocativeness - the desire to explain one’s actions by using self-defense: “the animal attacked me first,” “I was just defending myself,” etc.. Unmotivated aggression - there are no suitable words to explain the reasons for what was done, or the reasons are so ridiculous that they cannot be believed. A tendency to aggravate the severity of aggression. This is what those commenting on the event are so afraid of: after cruelty to animals, a teenager may commit violence against a person. The likelihood of cognitive motives of aggression developing into sadistic ones exists when the killing (torture) of animals/