Domestic abuse campaign: How you can support pets - the ‘unheard victims’

Research from Dogs Trust in 2019 shows that 89 per cent of professionals working in domestic abuse who responded to a survey said they knew of cases where a pet has also been abused and 49 per cent knew of cases where a pet had been killed.

Indeed, many victims will not leave their abuser as they are too scared about what harm the abuser will do to their pet. This fear is exploited by the abuser to keep their victim under their control.

This control can also manifest in other ways such as displaying jealousy about how much the victim cares about the pet, restricting access to food and veterinary care (either physically or by financial abuse), or as a way to turn children against the victim (“your mum made me give the dog away”).

Pets can often be a great comfort in times of distress and many people off-load their worries to their beloved furry friend safe in the knowledge that they won’t tell anyone or answer back.

But domestic abusers can view this closeness as another opportunity to exert their power and control over the victim and the household. In cases of domestic homicide where a pet is also killed, the public are often more horrified by the death of the pet than the human victim.

Fleeing to a refuge with a pet in tow is not really an option – so how can victims get help to keep their pets safe?

Dogs Trust runs the Freedom Project in various locations across the UK and is launching a scheme in Cambridgeshire in January 2021. The project uses volunteer foster carers to look after the animals in their own home until the owner is able to take them back (this could be once they have moved house or made the current property more secure).

Sarah Rowe, Freedom Project coordinator for East Anglia at Dogs Trust said: “Alongside suffering physical abuse, we know that dogs are also often used by perpetrators as a means to coerce and control their partners. This is incredibly frightening for survivors and can range from perpetrators stopping their partner from accessing vet care for their dogs or spending money on dog food, through to repeatedly threatening to harm, kill or ‘get rid’ of their dogs.

“As many refuges are unable to accept pets, survivors are understandably concerned about their dog’s safety when they need to escape. Therefore we have recently expanded our Freedom Project into East Anglia and we urgently need the animal loving public of Cambridgeshire to come forward to volunteer as foster carers. We are looking for volunteers who are at home during the day and have some experience caring for dogs.”

If you think you can help or would like more information on the service, you can visit www.dogstrustfreedomproject.org.uk, call 0808 196 6240, or you can apply online via this link: https://www.moretodogstrust.org.uk/volunteer.

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