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Ahimsa House: Statewide Services for Victims With Pets
For many victims of family violence, both children and adults, their pets are beloved members of the family and a key source of emotional support during crisis. However, up to 71% of victims report that their pets were threatened, injured, or killed as part of the abuse (Ascione, Weber, & Wood, 1997). Abusers use harm to pets as a powerful weapon to intimidate, traumatize, and control others in the home, often threatening to hurt a pet if a victim leaves.
However, many victims find that if they do leave, they have nowhere to take their pets to safety. The majority of family violence shelters and homeless shelters cannot accept animals. (Service animals are an exception, and must be accommodated: for guidance on this topic, see the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence publication "Service Animals In Domestic Violence Shelters" at http://www.wscadv.org/docs/Model_Protocol_Service_Animals.pdf.) Other temporary accommodations to which victims may flee can also be prohibitive due to no-pet policies, costly pet deposits, or allergic friends/family.
Unsurprisingly, nearly 50% of victims report that they delayed leaving an abusive situation because of concern about their pets (McIntosh, 2001). Some escape with their pets and are forced to live in their cars or on the street. Others attempt to return to the residence to retrieve pets left behind, or are coerced into returning by the abuser's threats against the pets. For those victims who must witness the abuse of their pets, or relinquish them in order to reach safety, this experience often constitutes a significant trauma that adds to those they have already experienced. As advocates for victims of family violence, even if we do not personally consider ourselves "pet people," we must recognize the roles animals play in both the safety and well-being of those we serve.
Ahimsa House, whose name is a Sanskrit principle meaning "nonviolence," was founded by a survivor who believed that no victim of family violence should have to choose between personal safety and the safety of a cherished pet. Since 2004, this 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization has provided emergency shelter and veterinary care for pets at no cost until their owners establish pet-friendly transitional housing and can reclaim them. In 2007, Ahimsa House converted from a single location in the metro Atlanta area to a network of foster homes and boarding facilities, making it possible to serve the entire state of Georgia. Pets sheltered have included dogs, cats, guinea pigs, hamsters, an iguana, and even a horse. Ahimsa House also offers a 24-hour crisis line providing assistance with including pets in safety planning, listing pets on orders of protection, establishing proof of pet ownership (since some abusers use the legal system to attempt to gain control of pets), and other issues. Victims need not be placing a pet in Ahimsa House's animal safehouse program in order to access crisis line services and support.
Ahimsa House has taken referrals from family violence shelters, law enforcement, legal services, health professionals, animal cruelty investigators, veterinarians, and animal shelters/rescues. (A key focus of Ahimsa House's outreach work is to encourage development of collaborative relationships between human services and animal protection agencies, building a more comprehensive "coordinated community response" to family violence by casting a wider net.) Victims can also call Ahimsa House directly for assistance, a majority of whom have not located shelter or other assistance for themselves (and will not consider doing so until they are assured that their pets will be safe). In addition to providing help with pets, Ahimsa House connects these individuals with family violence programs and other services. Ahimsa House has also provided assistance with transportation of pets; investigation and prosecution of animal cruelty in the context of family violence; consultation to family violence shelters on developing on-site pet accommodations; and training on the links between animal abuse and family violence.
For assistance, please call the 24-hour crisis line at 404-452-6248, or to learn more about Ahimsa House, visit http://www.ahimsahouse.org. To schedule a presentation for your task force or agency, please email services@ahimsahouse.org.
References:
Ascione, F.R., Weber, C.V., & Wood, D.S. (1997). The abuse of animals and family violence: A national survey of shelters for women who are battered. Society & Animals, 5, 205-218.
McIntosh, S. C. (2001). Exploring the links between animal abuse and family violence. The
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