Safety for All

Safe pet programs are on the rise to protect animals involved in domestic violence cases

By Barbara Geehan
CTW Features

In years past, when police officer Harold Domer patrolled the streets in Frederick County, Md., he was called to many homes to help sort out domestic violence situations. Many of those homes had pets.

As he questioned everyone, he had to decide who was at fault and how to protect the victims of the violence. This usually, however, did not include the animals.

“We would never think of calling the local shelter,” he says. “We’d tell them to call a friend or family,” to move the pet. More often, the animal was left in the home.

That’s changing now. In towns across the country, programs are being set up to provide temporary care for pets of victims of domestic violence. The Humane Society of the United States, Washington, D.C., has begun to keep track of such options; its online state-by-state directory (www.hsus.org/firststrike) describes 169 shelters now, and officials hope to add to it often.

Leaving the pet in the home can be dangerous. The Humane Society surveyed women entering battered-women shelters and found that nearly half reported their pets had been threatened, injured or killed by their partners. In a sample of those entering the largest domestic violence shelters in the U.S., 91 percent of adults and 73 percent of children described incidents of animal abuse in the home. Many victims told agencies they delayed leaving because they feared for their animals’ safety.

The survey also found that only 18 percent of battered women’s shelters routinely ask the entering victim about their pets. Most shelters cannot accept pets due to space issues, health restrictions or potential liabilities.

“People who are in a dangerous situation, who need to get out, find there is no option for the pets,” says Dale Bartlett, deputy manager for animal cruelty issues for the HSUS. The worry, he says, is, “Am I going to leave the animal with the abuser? Am I going to leave the animal behind?” These are wrenching concerns for someone who already fears for personal safety and probably the safety of the children.

Today, though, more communities are partnering with animal shelters, animal care agencies, vet clinics and law enforcement agencies to find options for the animals of victims of violence.

Domer now runs Frederick County Animal Control in Maryland. In 1999, the shelter started one of the first programs offering temporary care to animals until victims can retrieve them. “We try to minimize the stay to 30 days, then we have a good network of foster care,” Domer says.

Often called safe havens or safe pet programs, the temporary shelters face unique challenges:

- Confidentiality is vital to keep all involved safe. All records and files must be kept locked and not lead anyone to the victim or pet. Temporary ID tags without names or addresses are often made.

- The pet should be kept separate from the rest of the animals if it is in a regular shelter, to make it inaccessible to the abusive partner.

- There are special liability issues. How long do you keep the pet? What if it becomes sick?

- Special training is needed. Animals could show aggressive and defensive tendencies.

- Although usually the pet is a dog or cat, the safe haven should be prepared for a birds, horses or even livestock.

Other decisions must be made; for example, will the shelter allow visits from the abused owner? There is disagreement on this. Some experts feel such visits are too stressful to the animal, and there are serious safety and logistical issues to think about. On the other hand, what better way to help the victim heal than to let her cuddle her pet?

“I’ve witnessed many happy reunions with women and their children and the pets,” says Bartlett, who used to work at the Virginia Beach SPCA, which also offers a safe pet program. “One of the beauties of this program is that women are encouraged to come in and care for their animals. They feed them and take them for walks. It gives them a chance to be needed, to be in the nurturing role.”

Safe pet programs face frustrating times when the victim decides to retrieve the pet and go back to the abusive situation. But, say experts, it is important to understand that leaving a violent family situation can be a gradual process. “Characteristically, we have found that the victim does not want to testify against her abuser,” Domer says, “much less against her abuser about the animals. We try, but are not always successful.”

There also is disagreement on how to promote awareness of the temporary shelters. Some agencies want to publicize as widely as possible; some want to limit knowledge to only participating agencies because of safety issues. Some, for example, have printed wallet-sized information cards, which police can hand to victims.

If you need help, contact your local battered women’s shelter, animal shelter or vet to see if they have temporary-care facilities for the pets of battered partners. An excellent resource is the Humane Society directory of such facilities. If you are an organization that wants to be in the directory or wants to start a facility, e-mail firststrike@hsus.org.

“Animal cruelty is a paradigm for human cruelty,” Bartlett says. “Twenty years ago, six states had felony laws against animal cruelty, today 43 do.”

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