The Link Between Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty

 


Loretta Gledhill, LSW, HUMBOLDT AVA Advocate

 

Unconditional love, support and validation.  We all need it and so often we find it in our furry friends, our fur babies.    Pets to include dogs, cats, chickens, goats, horses and more all offer their humans unconditional support and love in a world that can often be unkind.  Pets are a part of our homes and families.  Pet owners often form very strong emotional bonds with their companion animals. 

        Humboldt AVA recognizes that perpetrators of domestic violence often harm pets as a way to intimidate and hurt their victim, gain power and control and/or force their victims to stay. Documented cases of DV report that the perpetrators of domestic violence may threaten the family pets, even actually harm or kill the animals in order to assert dominance over their victim.    



According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), seventy-one percent of pet-owning women entering domestic violence shelters reported that the abuser threatened, harmed, or killed the family pet (2).   Coincidentally, animal abuse can also be an early indicator of domestic violence.  Research shows that neighbors are more likely to report suspected animal abuse than domestic violence, making local humane societies and other animal protection professionals the first point of social services contact for some families in crises (3). 

As many as one in four survivors of domestic violence have reported returning to an abusive partner out of concern for their pet(s).  In many instances for the victim this is a life-threatening decision. 



Domestic violence shelters have been addressing this issue by partnering with animal welfare groups to find creative ways to keep both the victims/survivors of DV and their pets safe.  One of these creative solutions has met with a lot of success.  Animal shelters allow survivors to have their pets fostered out to homes during their stay in the domestic violence program.  This arrangement offers the benefit of allowing victims and their children to still visit their pets while they rebuild their lives.  The love, comfort and solace the victims receive from a continued relationship with their pets is unmeasurable.    

Humboldt AVA recognizes the difficult journey survivors and their children face rebuilding their lives after domestic violence.  Humboldt AVA is committed to safe and healthy homes which include our furry friends.  Please look forward to AVA’s future fundraiser where we will be addressing the issue of victims being able to keep their pets safe as well. 

 


(1) (2)Understanding the Link Between Violence to Animals and People” http://nationallinkcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Allies-Link-Monograph-2014.pdf warning sign of concurrent or future violence.

(3) www.aspca.org/blog/protecting-all-victims-domestic-violence


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