Companion Animals Week! Protection in Domestic Violence Cases

Both scholarly studies and actual reports make a strong case for a correlation between animal abuse and domestic violence.  Out of approximately 627,400 incidents of nonfatal intimate partner victimizations reported by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (2006), it was estimated that up to 71% of them included the abuse or death of family companion animals.

Currently, there are 17 states that have enacted legislation to include provisions for companion animals in protection orders in domestic violence situations.  The laws in these states allow for the care, treatment, and custody of companion animals.

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Hawaii
• Illinois
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Minnesota
• Nevada
• New York
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee
• Vermont
• Washington
• West Virginia

In domestic violence situations, abuse to companion animals often becomes a means of inflicting emotional distress on the partner; violence to a companion animal frequently is committed in the presence of the partner (and children). Furthermore, an abuser will use threats to harm or kill a companion animal as a means of control, to the extent that the partner will be unwilling to leave the abusive environment or report abuse that is going on. Beyond these reasons, of course, is the recognition that our companion animals are family members, too — and they should be protected from injury. 

It’s essential that victimized families know the protection of the law extends to a companion animal’s safety.  If we want to encourage victims to leave abusive conditions, and if we want to spare children from witnessing abuse and suffering abuse themselves, we have to give victims of domestic violence the kind of assurance that can only come from the law, in the form of a written protection order.  Without the inclusion of a companion animal in its scope of protection, for anyone who has a companion animal in the family, a protection order clearly falls short of its intended purpose: to ensure the safety of all the victims and to encourage those in violent situations to leave.

It’s my hope that more states will join those that already have extended this kind of protection – and this fundamental kindness – to victims of domestic violence.  If your state isn’t listed above, please consider contacting your local representatives to let them know this is an issue you care about… a simple step to initiate much needed change.

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