Animal Cruelty and Domestic Violence

The Animal Welfare Institute created this list of facts and myths about the connection between animal cruelty and domestic violence:

• FACT: Domestic violence, child abuse, and animal abuse frequently occur simultaneously in a family.
• FACT: Women with pets may delay leaving a dangerous environment for fear of their pets’ safety.
• FACT: Individuals who commit pet abuse are more likely to become batterers.
• FACT: Animal abuse often is linked to the severity of IPV.
• MYTH: Animals abusers represent a distinct type of offender.
• MYTH: A safe haven for pets of domestic violence victims is always a place where the pets of domestic violence victims are sheltered in the same area as the family.
• FACT: Safe havens for pets—offering assistance either with direct service or information to survivors of domestic violence about housing their pets safely—have grown nationally.

Resources

• American Humane Association: Expanding Protective Orders to Include Companion Animals (PDF)
• Animal Welfare Institute: Protecting Domestic Violence Victims by Protecting Their Pets (PDF)
• Animal Welfare Institute’s Safe Havens Mapping Project
• First Strike: The Violence Connection (PDF)
• The Link: Domestic Violence and Animal Abuse (Office on Women's Health)
• The National Children’s Advocacy Center, Free Online Trainings
  • Caught in the Crossfire: How the Abuse of Animals Co-occurs with Family Violence
  • Recognizing Violence as a Household Pattern - Overlap of Intimate Partner Violence, Child Abuse, and Animal Abuse
• Representing Domestic Violence Survivors with Pets in the District of Columbia, Maryland & Virginia (PDF)
• Virginia Detecting Animal Abuse and Domestic Violence Cards for LE and ACOs (PDF)
  • Detecting Animal Abuse and Domestic Violence (LE) (.jpg)
  • Detecting Animal Abuse and Domestic Violence (ACO) (.jpg)

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