Boys, 10 and 12, charged with dogfighting

Here's an article and a news video that breaks my heart.  What, exactly, are we teaching our youth about respect and the value of life?  I read this article because I was sure there was an error in the ages of the perpetrators of this vicious abuse; imagine my surprise when I was wrong.

How can such young boys be so twisted?  Where are they learning these things?  How can we, as a society, help prevent this from becoming full-fledged epidemics?  These boys have lost their humanity before they even knew what that was.  I am so sad.
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Two boys — aged 10 and 12 — have been charged with fighting, baiting and cruelty to animals after deputies say they discovered the boys were operating a backyard dogfighting operation.

A neighbor called deputies in Orange County after the boys dumped a dead dog on his property. When deputies arrived to ask one of them about the allegations cops say the boy picked up a puppy and started beating it until deputies forced him to stop, according to Fox News in Orlando.

Three dogs were taken from the property after they were found covered with wounds, spray painted and living in unhealthy conditions.