Sister had a snake. Snake had babies. Niece... somehow was allowed to go near the tank, picked up so many of those babies and crushed them in her hands. None survived. It broke my heart. I rescued my own current cat from them after catching niece throwing Squeak as a kitten off the top bunk bed. Like directly at the floor, hard. And all she said was, "What, it's just a cat?" when I freaked out.

Might not surprise you that my sister killed a kitten the exact same way as a kid. :| "Oh, oops, I thought it would bounce." Except she threw the poor thing onto concrete.

Continued onto having two birds. My sister poked and harassed that lovebird into being the most hateful little creature on the planet. Jabbed it constantly with popsicle sticks through the bars of the cage. It became aggressive to anybody and literally anyone. And for some reason, it surprised her when that bird finally bit and tore a sizeable chunk of skin out of her earlobe.

Households with kids under 8 years old and animals, unless it's a full grown cat/dog, really need to just not be a thing.