Pet-friendly shelters and refuges

Breaking the bonds of coercive control requires doing many things at once. Breaking financial bonds, keeping children safe, getting animals out of harm’s way, and finding a safe place to live. Failure in any one of these can compromise attempts to escape a dangerous situation.

It is well-known that abusers will use animals as leverage to keep a partner from leaving. And these same abusers often inflict harm on the animals. The longer a person stays in an abusive relationship, the more harm is done to them and their companion animal.

So it’s vital that human and animal victims of domestic and family violence can find shelter when they need it.