Family violence and pets:

Debbs Murray
1 day ago
2 min read

Family violence and pets: Why victims stay and how Pet Refuge helps

Pet Refuge founder and CEO Dame Julie Chapman told The Front Page that abusive partners often use pets to gain control over their partners or children. “This is the really awful, heartbreaking, sad part that’s been quite hidden for a long time.

Full podcast here - Family violence and pets: Why victims stay and how Pet Refuge helps – The Front Page - NZ Herald

A major barrier to escaping family violence is the heartache of leaving a pet behind.

Every day, pets are used as a tool to control and harm victims experiencing family violence.

Pet Refuge provides a safe, temporary haven for pets, and demand for the shelter is at an all-time high.

The refuge has reported a 19% year-on-year increase in help by supporting 121 families. Its waitlist has extended to 79 days.

“This is the really awful, heartbreaking, sad part that’s been quite hidden for a long time.

“Abusive partners will injure the pet intentionally or threaten to injure the pet.

“Often, children will witness their pet being injured or hurt, and we have seen some horrific cases of injury and even death being carried out against family pets.

“Ninety per cent of the pets that come to us have some kind of medical issue or injury that needs treatment over and above your normal flea and worm vaccination because of the abuse that they’ve had to suffer,” she said.

According to research from Women’s Refuge, about 24% of women in abusive relationships had a pet killed by their abuser.

More than half of victims hesitate to escape because they cannot ensure their pet will be safe without them.

Chapman said she has been working with Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence Karen Chhour, who has been looking into what legislation changes could help.

“Understand that there are things they can do to ask for protection for their pets. In Australia, they’ve recently changed the laws to give much greater protection for pets as part of family violence.

“The other thing that I really advocate for and really want to see is when police are attending family violence incidents - on the form that they complete, I would love to see a section added around pets in the home and whether they need help in getting out. Or whether those pets have been subject to abuse,” she said.

Donate to Pet Refuge here.

Listen to the full episode to hear more about:

How the service works
What needs to change
Why people delay leaving
What you can do to help.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5pm. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.