It's, sadly, quite common among farmers where I live. Both of my parents grew up on a farm, and while my dad paid hundreds of euros to the vet whenever one of out cats needed an operation, and my mom almost always cried when one of our animals died, their parents (my grandparents) were all cruel to animals.  When you're used to slaughtering pigs and cows pretty much every year, you don't really see killing kittens as a big deal :(