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Domestic Violence Link

© Sherrie Walker

According to A. William Ritter, Jr. in "The Prosecutor" magazine, society has always treated different types of violence as separate issues: child abuse was different from animal abuse which was separate from domestic violence. Now, however, he says that "evidence is mounting that violent acts are not separate and distinct, but part of a cycle. The forces and influences that foster violence toward humans and animals spring from the same roots." For example, a study conducted by the American Humane Society found that, in New Jersey, animal abuse occurred in 88% of families in which physical abuse occurred. Moreover, the harming or threat of harming a pet was often used as coercion to keep a partner or child quiet about the abuse.

People who have never experienced domestic violence sometimes find it hard to understand why women stay in an abusive relationship. Many battered women lack a support network and financial resources outside the relationship, and they fear retaliation from the abusive partner if their escape attempt is not successful. Another reason that many women cite, however, is fear their pets will be harmed if they leave, or that their pets will be taken away from them if they speak up about the abuse. In a study by Dr. Frank Ascione of Utah State University, one in four women who entered a Utah shelter for battered women reported that they had delayed coming to the shelter because of concern for their pets.

A pet is often the only source of companionship and affection an abused woman or child has in her life, yet most domestic violence shelters are not equipped to take animals. One of the first groups to recognize this problem was Feminists for Animal Rights (FAR.) In 1993, they started CARE - Companion Animal Rescue Effort - a foster care program for pets of women who are victims of domestic violence. Since then, numerous other organizations have developed similar programs. In 1998, Dr. Ascione identified 113 such programs, and in his Safe Havens For Pets, he provides contact information for more than 40 of them.

One program, the Humane Society of Southern Arizona's "Safehaven," has won grant money and has actually increased the donor base for the society. Through this program, women sign a contract relinquishing ownership of the animal to the humane society for 30 days. (This protects the pet from being claimed by the abusive partner under community property laws.) The animals are boarded at area kennels, so that space at the shelter is left free for adoptable animals.