Humboldt AVA and WAR work to protect animals as part of victim of crime services!


Victims Left Behind No More!


 New Service Now Provided by Humboldt AVA


We often receive calls from victims of crimes such as domestic and family violence, stalking and sexual abuse.  Very few people know of someone who has not been a victim of one of these crimes.  Here in Humboldt County we see it all the time- daily.  It rarely begins with any physical violence; it begins with emotional, verbal, and economic abuse.  

According the Nevada Attorney General’s Domestic Violence Resource Manual, “Domestic violence has evolved from a private, family matter, cloaked in secrecy and shame, to the recognition of domestic violence as a crime involving the use of power, coercion and violence to control another. To that end, domestic violence crimes are treated in the same manner as more random crimes against persons. However, domestic violence is different from such crimes because a perpetrator and victim are, by definition, never strangers, but rather partners in an intimate relationship, family members, or parents of common children. Thus, the victim is bound to the perpetrator in ways not commonly seen in traditional crimes against a person – the victim may rely on the perpetrator for economic support or child support, as the co-parent of their children or as a parent…Thus, domestic violence generally is defined as a violent crime committed in the context of an intimate relationship. Ongoing domestic violence is characterized by a pattern of escalating abuse in which one partner in the relationship controls the other through force, deprivation and/or the threat of deprivation or violence.”*

Nevada Revised Statute 33.018 states, “1. Domestic violence occurs when a person commits one of the following acts against or upon the person’s spouse or former spouse, any other person to whom the person is related by blood or marriage, any other person with whom the person is or was actually residing, any other person with whom the person has had or is having a dating relationship, any other person with whom the person has a child in common, the minor child of any of those persons, the person’s minor child or any other person who has been appointed the custodian or legal guardian for the person’s minor child:
(a) A battery.
(b) An assault.
(c) Compelling the other person by force or threat of force to perform an act from which the other person has the right to refrain or to refrain from an act which the other person has the right to perform.
(d) A sexual assault.
(e) A knowing, purposeful or reckless course of conduct intended to harass the other person. Such conduct may include, but is not limited to:
Stalking.
Arson.
Trespassing.
Larceny.
Destruction of private property.
Carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
Injuring or killing an animal.
(f) A false imprisonment.
(g) Unlawful entry of the other person’s residence, or forcible entry against the other person’s will if there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of harm to the other person from the entry.
Protection orders allow a person seeking protection to list their animals as protected parties. But what happens when a protection order is not granted (as they often are not here anymore), and the victim often has no place left to go except back into the home, often with their children?  An additional issue is when they are able to obtain emergency shelter, they may not be able to take their animals with them.  Out of fear for the animals’ safety, they will stay in the dangerous environment, putting all their lives at risk.

In domestic violence, child abuse and elder abuse cases, actual or threatened animal abuse can be a way for the abuser to silence victims about the incident or to prevent them from leaving. Abusers kill, hurt or threaten animals to exert power over the human victims and to show them what could happen to them. Killing a family pet can eliminate a source of comfort and support for the human victim. Animal abuse is part of the cycle of violence. Children living in homes with domestic violence and animal abuse absorb unhealthy attitudes and family norms and pass these patterns down to their own children when they grow up.

Because this issue has come up more often in the past few months than ever before, with some very sad and traumatic outcomes, Humboldt AVA has teamed up with Winnemucca Animal Rescue to provide “foster homes” for animals who are endangered because of violence.  We do have some animal foster homes secured now, and if anyone is in need of this service, please contact us.

More animal foster homes are also needed!  Names and addresses are kept confidential and financial assistance while the animal is in your care may be available. Please contact us if you’re interested.

Contact information: email us at humboldtava@sbcglobal.net or call or text 775-304-3377 or 775-722-4564 or visit our website at www.humboldtava.com or visit us on Facebook.

  *NV AG’s Domestic Violence Resource Manual: http://ag.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/agnvgov/Content/Hot_Topics/Victims/DomesticViolenceResourceManual.pdf

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