My human is petting me a lot right now. He and I both just read
this (Warning: severe animal cruelty), and we're both horrified and enraged.
My human wants to visit the old man who was laughing about all this (and who likely committed the actual abuse) and beat the hell out of him, not stopping until the scumbag is a huge greasy smear on the pavement. Me, I want someone wih thumbs to tie him up, and then I want a whole neighborhood's worth of cats to use him as a scratching post, until he dies from blood loss.
It's not likely either of us will get the chance. So, he's petting me, as if trying to assure me nonverbally that I am safe from such subhuman monsters.