Why are people like this?

my great great uncle, yes my moms great uncle, did something crazy like that.
He lived with us back in the 80s, had his own room with a bathroom and small kitchen. He had gotten this little puppy (at this point he was in his 80's, not the dog, the uncle) and it was always getting under my moms feet and getting on her nerves. She said something to the effect of " I wish you would make this dog disappear". well, after my mom hadn't seen it for a few days she asked him where it was. He told her he killed it (with a hammer) and it was in his freezer and he was gonna put it in the garbage on garbage day... that's was some ruthless shirt.. talk about traumatizing to me when i was like 12....
That’s tough old-people-who-suffered-unspeakable-sheet stuff. Not at all giving the guy a moral pass, but they just saw animals and suffering differently.

My (elder) brother in law’s father was one of those tough old dudes. As a kid in the Depression, a factory site used to pay him a nickel for every cat he killed on the site. He didn’t enjoy doing it but in his mind “they were just cats”. He said his best Christmas as a kid was the time he got an orange from his mother.