THREE children responsible for the torture and killing of a baby possum at the weekend could be headed for lives of crime, according to child psychologist Dr John Irvine. Two boys, believed to be around 13 years old, and another as young as seven, were witnessed removing a baby possum from a nest in Wagga's Botanic Gardens on Saturday afternoon before taping the animal to a tree and beating it to death.Dr Irvine believes cruelty towards animals in children can often be an indication of a serious psychological disorder best diagnosed by a child psychologist."The sad fact is that the majority of criminals are identifiable early in life as having a conduct disorder," he said."Cruelty to animals in school-aged kids is just one of the symptoms of a problem we call conduct disorder."While animals can fall victim to the actions of children with conduct disorder, Dr Irvine revealed their relationships with people can also be strenuous."They also have really poor relationships with other kids and tend to have trouble seeing other people's points of view and see the outside world as a hostile and unfriendly place, and they quite often also have learning difficulties," he said."Some of the other symptoms of the conduct disorder can be fire lighting, aggressiveness, stealing and generally destructive behaviour and rule breaking."While the children responsible for the shocking act of cruelty are yet to be identified, Detective Inspector Rod Smith said the age of the offenders would restrict police in the actions they could take.He said the likely punishments dished out to the boys would involve cautions or a youth justice conference."Children at the age of 12 are subject to the provisions of the young offenders act and any action that will be taken depend on the nature of the offence and the history of the child," he said.Det Insp Smith said cruelty to animals was taken very seriously and anyone witnessing such an act should contact police immediately.