BayTails

"Many years ago, my mother and my siblings made a long awaited escape from violence in our home away from my father. Our beautiful dog Clyde could not come with us and my father at the time had him put to sleep. I still cry. Thank you Senator, from Clyde and family."
— California

Comments on the ASPCA's online petition thanking California State Senator Sheila Kuehl, author of S.B. 353

When we hear of domestic violence victims who endure years of abuse from their tormentors, we sometimes find our shock and empathy mixed with the burning question of why they didn't just get out before, in all too many cases, somebody wound up dead.

The reasons are as unique as the victims, but one that's increasingly apparent is that they're afraid to leave because their abuser has threatened to harm or kill their animals — according to the New York-based ASPCA, 83 percent of directors of the largest battered women's shelters in the U.S. said their clients discussed incidents of pet abuse in the family; 71 percent of pet-owning woman in shelters reported that their animal had been threatened, injured or killed by their abuser; and 49 percent of pet-owning victims who fled their abusers continued to worry about their pets after they entered a shelter. Exacerbating the problem — as we saw during Hurricane Katrina, most shelters that take humans won't take animals.

"One of the reasons women don't leave is because they don't have a safe place for their animals," says Keri Fennell of the Marin Humane Society. "It's a very common thing, but people don't know about it." "Battered women's shelters don't allow animals. This leaves (abuse victims) with two lousy choices — staying in their abusive relationships, or leaving their pets behind," adds Scott Delucchi of the Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA.

That's why, starting in the '90s, both groups, as well as San Francisco Animal Care and Control, stepped up with programs offering safe havens for the pets of domestic abuse victims in their respective counties (regardless of gender, though to date those using the program have been women, partly because of referrals from groups serving abused women). Companions in Crisis at Marin, the Safe Pets Program at Peninsula Humane, and the Safe Pet program at SFACC offer a secure, protected place for the non-human family members to stay — usually for anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, but there's wiggle room depending on the individual situation — while the human family members are getting themselves to safety.

In all but a couple of cases at both Marin and Peninsula Humane over the years, pets and humans are eventually reunited. (According to Judy Choy at SFACC, all the pets in the program so far have rejoined their people.) In rare instances, the abuse victim is so overwhelmed she asks the shelter to find the pet a new home, and they do.

Surprisingly, given current levels of reported (as opposed to hidden) domestic violence, relatively few — rarely as many as a dozen per year — have taken advantage of these programs. "I see it as a matter of the word not getting out that the service is available, because domestic violence is still rampant," says Fennell, who adds that Marin Humane is looking at new approaches to outreach, perhaps a card the police could leave with victims when they're checking out abuse situations.

Shelter folks involved with the program say that however many people and their pets they can help, it's one of the most rewarding aspects of their job. Says Delucchi, "For most women we help, their pet is the only thing right in their lives. It's incredibly rewarding to provide them temporary housing at no cost."

On Another Front

Historically, the problem has been made worse by the fact that the law, burdened by the antiquated viewpoint that one's non-human family members were simply "property," had no way to protect animals caught up in these situations.

That may be about to change. Currently pending in California's state senate is S.B. 353, authored by Senator Sheila Kuehl. It provides that courts may specifically assign custody of animals to one party in a domestic dispute, and also provides that court orders requiring the abuser to stay away from the victim may specifically require staying away from the animals as well. If it passes, California will join Maine, Vermont and New York, which have also enacted similar legislation. Here's to it becoming a trend.