Child advocate Kathleen Kufeldt says a boy in a small Newfoundland town requires immediate intervention. (CBC)

A small boy in rural Newfoundland who has been accused of killing local animals requires immediate treatment to steer him away from greater dangers, one of Canada's foremost experts in child protection says.

Authorities say an eight-year-old boy in Stoneville, on Newfoundland's northeast coast, killed a neighbour's dog with a barbecue fork in June and this week bludgeoned another family's pet chickens to death.

Kathleen Kufeldt, a former chair in child protection at Memorial University in St. John's, said there is no question that health-care workers need to intervene in the boy's case.

"If this youngster is not treated early, and if the home situation is a bad one, not taken from that home early, then the chances are that he's going to grow up into a sadistic adult who's going to do a lot of damage," Kufeldt told CBC News.

Kufeldt said both the child and the community around him are at risk unless professionals take action.

Central Health, the regional authority that manages hospitals and many health services in central Newfoundland, declined to comment on the kind of help that is available for the boy, although a spokesperson questioned whether there is even a mental health issue in the case or whether the boy is simply a "bad kid."

RCMP are investigating this week's incident.

Thorough assessment needed

Kufeldt said the boy needs to be thoroughly assessed, possibly at a hospital outside Newfoundland and Labrador.

She said she believes if the boy cannot get the treatment he needs close to home, he would be better served to leave the province to attend a treatment centre.

Neighbours in Stoneville told CBC News they are worried about what the boy is capable of doing next. Kufeldt said they are right to be concerned.

"They should start worrying at the first symptoms, and you've described some very serious symptoms already," said Kufeldt.