APBnews.com

May 17, 2000

By Julie Catalano

NEW YORK (APBnews.com) - When a 34-year-old mother of two recently walked away from an abusive marriage after four years, there was no way she was leaving without her children.

But she agonized about leaving behind the family pets -- two cats and a dog -- when police escorted her to the Battered Women's Shelter of Bexar County, Texas.

"I bawled like a baby," said Lynn, whose real name is being withheld to protect her identity.

Among the financial, emotional and cultural barriers that women must overcome in leaving an abusive relationship is the added fear that their partners will harm or even kill pets in retaliation.

According to the American Bar Association's Commission on Domestic Violence, about 4 million women experience a serious assault by an intimate partner every year. There are no corresponding statistics on the number of pets that are hurt or die in these situations.

Joyce Coleman, executive director of Family Violence Prevention Services Inc. and the Battered Women's Shelter of Bexar County, has heard her share of horror stories. 

"One man who was sexually abusing his own children [threw] their puppy against the wall and killed it," Coleman recalled.

Boarding programs

Health codes and liability issues prohibit many shelters from allowing animals inside, Coleman said. Aside from sanitary issues, women's shelters must also consider the needs of children with asthma or allergies, the possibility that an animal might bite someone and the chaos that would ensue with animals that did not get along.

For the past 12 years, Coleman and her staff have scrambled to place pets at veterinary clinics, animal service organizations and even at staffers' homes.

But now, boarding programs are starting to spring up to offer a safe haven for pets and peace of mind for their owners.

One group, PetSafe, was established at Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind., in 1994 by Janice Sojka, an associate professor of veterinary medicine. Purdue has sheltered more than 100 animals, including dogs, cats, fish, birds, guinea pigs, hamsters, ferrets, and one tarantula.

Sojka said she deals with "people whose lives are in turmoil."

"You have to go with the flow a lot," she said. "You have to be flexible."

Idea catches on

The PetSafe concept is catching on at other veterinary schools as well.

Four veterinary teaching hospitals around the country have requested information from Sojka about PetSafe, and Ohio State University is starting its own program. And the University of Missouri-Columbia's College of Veterinary Medicine has offered the program since last August.

In areas where groups like PetSafe are not yet an option, domestic violence programs often team up with local animal welfare groups to provide free boarding and foster care for pets, said Cathy Nardo, a spokeswoman with the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence in Harrisburg, Pa.

And the women's shelter Coleman runs plans to build a new facility that will include an on-site kennel. The staff is scheduled to move into its new location in December 2001.

The kennel is designed to help abused women, who often draw emotional support from their pets, said Richard Meadows, an assistant professor at the University of Missouri.

"That animal loves unconditionally [and] may be the only living being that treats [her] right. How can [she] put that pet in harm's way?" Meadows said.

Trashed house, missing dog

After Lynn fled her home with her two children, she went back to get her pets. One cat ran to her car and climbed in. She found the other one curled up in a ball on her bed, shaking. The house was trashed, her possessions had been sold and the dog was missing.

She tried to get her husband to tell her where the dog was, but "he was drunk," she said. Lynn drove off with her two cats without looking back.

"It took everything I had to walk out of that situation," said Lynn, who has since filed for divorce and left San Antonio. She is now working as a manager for a restaurant chain.

But Lynn's story has a bittersweet ending. The apartment she moved into doesn't allow pets, and she had to put her cats up for adoption.

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Julie Catalano is a former APBnews.com correspondent in Texas. This article originally appeared on APBNews.com on May 17, 2000.