Providing temporary shelters for pets has helped to prevent the deaths of their owners when they have become trapped in abusive relationships, the audience at a conference in Bodmin was told.
The event was organised by Refuge4Pets – a charity that runs fostering services for pets owned by women escaping domestic violence in Devon and Cornwall.
Speakers from different agencies that work with the charity said its approach to helping victims would save more lives if adopted across the rest of the UK.
Coercive control
Its founder, Mary Wakeham, reminded the meeting that pets are often used as a tool in relationships where there is coercive control. The perpetrator – almost invariably male – will threaten to kill or injure a family pet to prevent their partner leaving the relationship.
Since Refuge4Pets was established seven years ago, it has supported nearly 400 families in starting a new life away from their abuser and provided foster care for about 650 animals, she said.
While animals may be collateral damage during the efforts of coercive males to maintain control over their families, the ultimate victim will usually be their partner.
Research
Dr Wakeham explained that research by Jane Monckton-Smith, a criminologist at the University of Gloucester, has shown that in coercive relationships, there is an eight-stage process of escalating abuse that can eventually lead to murder. Home Office figures show there were 80 “intimate partner homicides” and 93 cases of suicide by victims in the year up to March 2023.
Sharon Kempster is a team manager with LiveWest, an organisation providing safe housing throughout the south-west region for various vulnerable groups, including families escaping domestic abuse.
She insisted that in at least two of the cases on which she had worked, she believed that the women would likely have returned to their abusers if it hadn’t been possible to safeguard their pets. If that had happened, “I don’t think they would still be here today,” she said.
The 2021 Domestic Abuse Act does recognise that threats of abuse to the victim’s animals are a strategy commonly used by perpetrators of coercive control. But the meeting heard that the degree of concern shown towards the animals involved in these situations varies considerably between different regions.
Fostering programmes
Two national charities, the Dogs Trust and Cat Protection, also run local fostering programmes for the pets of domestic abuse victims in other parts of the country. However, the coverage is patchy and large regions, such as Northern Ireland, have no services currently available.
Inspector Sally Croxford, domestic abuse investigation manager for Devon and Cornwall Police, argued that Refuge4Pets provides a model for more effective response to the problem nationwide.
This requires a close working relationship between the various organisations involved, including police, social and medical services, she explained. Across the UK, there are 290 multi-agency risk assessment conferences (MARACs) involving representatives from the local agencies meeting online every month to discuss and plan a response to their shared caseload. But few of these bodies have sought to involve animal welfare organisations in their work.
But soon after her appointment in April 2023 as chairperson of two MARACs covering the Torbay and South Hams areas of Devon, Inspector Croxford said she received a call from Dr Wakeham requesting a place at these meetings.
Charity’s expertise
At first, Dr Wakeman was sceptical, but soon learned to appreciate the value of the charity’s expertise in dealing with animal welfare issues when looking to solve human welfare problems, Inspector Croxford said.
In about 20% of the cases handled by those two MARACs, there were concerns about pet animals where the charity’s advice was invaluable.
Mark Randell is a retired police officer who advises forces around the country on animal welfare issues. He said he was not aware of animal welfare organisations being invited to attend MARACs in other parts of the country.
He said: “What is happening here in the south-west is really forward thinking. If it could be rolled out across the rest of the country, the impact would be huge.”
Credit to: Temporary pet shelters can save owners’ lives, conference told (Vet Times)
Vet Times. (2024). Temporary pet shelters can save owners’ lives, conference told [online]
Available at: https://www.vettimes.co.uk/news/temporary-pet-shelters-can-save-owners-lives-conference-told/
