Harrowing phone call to RSPCA staff reveals dark truth about domestic violence and pets
By Maddison Leach|
Dr Ann-Margret Withers vividly remembers getting the call from the hospital. They had a pregnant woman with two young children fleeing domestic violence and needed her help.
"They said, 'can you look after her dog?' The previous dog had been killed by her husband and this dog had also been tormented and squeezed until it squealed," Withers tells 9Honey Pets.
The Senior Manager for Outreach Programs at RSPCA NSW immediately agreed to take the dog in and one of the Community Domestic Violence program staff fostered it.
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For about three months, the animal remained in their care while the owner worked on an escape plan so she and her children could flee the violence at home.?
After securing a new job and a house, then delivering her third child, the woman was finally able to reunite with her dog and start over.
"The whole family and the newborn came in and it was just the most emotional reunion. It was just so incredible to see that moment of reconnection," Withers says.
Moments like those are why she's so passionate about RSPCA domestic violence programs, which support victim-survivors escaping abuse by caring for their pets while they get help.
It's an area of domestic and family violence few people think about, but with about 6.9 million households across Australia owning pets, it's a vital service for victim-survivors.
Australian studies show about 50 per cent of women in violent relationships reported that their violent partner had hurt or killed one of their pets.?
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"If someone is physically violent towards their partner, they are likely to be physically violent to their animals," says RSPCA NSW Community Programs caseworker Danya Schonberger.
Before joining the program, Schonberger was a social worker and supported countless Aussies escaping domestic violence, but never considered what happened to their pets.
"A lot of them did have animals, but it never occurred to me what victim-survivors would do with them, whether they would leave them with the perpetrator, take them with them, or give them to family or friends," she admits.
"It was never my job, as a social worker, to ask those animal-related questions."
Aussies fleeing violent homes often want to take their pets with them, but very few refuges or support services offer pet-friendly accommodation, making it difficult.
About 33 per cent of women in violent relationships reported in an Australian study that they had delayed leaving their violent partner because of concerns for their pet's welfare.
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"The reason the program came about was because women were so desperate, they felt that surrendering the animal and hoping someone would adopt it was ultimately better than leaving it to potentially be injured, killed or neglected," Withers says.
That's where the RSPCA NSW Community Domestic Violence program comes in, offering boarding and foster care as well as vet care for the pets of people fleeing violence, with the promise to reunite the animals with their owners once they're safe.
RSPCA staff will go the extra mile to protect pets in their care from alleged perpetrators, Schonberger revealing that she once gave a pet bird an alias to keep it safe.
"One of my first cases was helping a woman who was trying to leave domestic violence, who had a bird at homeกญ it was like one of her children," she recalls.
"She was concerned that the perpetrator was going to look for the bird, so we helped her by giving the bird an alias so that if the person did happen to come into the shelter and look at the birds available for adoption, they wouldn't see this bird."
Thankfully, the woman was able to escape violence and later reunite with her bird.
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RSPCA NSW also offers financial support for owners whose animals end up at local pounds, often because perpetrators have surrendered the pet or abandoned them in the streets.
It's just another way animals can be dragged into domestic and family abuse, with some alleged perpetrators targeting animals in the home to hurt victim-survivors.
"The relationship that victim-survivors have with their animal is probably more vital than a 'normal' human-animal bond because of the experiences that they're suffering," says Lisa Walters-Little, who has been with RSPCA NSW for 10 years.
That emotional support is vital to victim-survivors and can be hard to let go of, even if they want to leave an abusive situation for their own safety or their children's safety.
Walters-Little once worked with a woman who had been in a 40-year-long abusive marriage but didn't want to leave without her beloved cat.
The RSPCA took the cat in and provided boarding for months while the woman escaped and started fresh, but she eventually made the heart-wrenching decision to surrender her cat.
A lack of pet-friendly housing in Australia made it hard for her to find a safe home where she could keep her pet and the situation has only worsened in the current rental crisis.
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Thankfully, that woman secured a pet-friendly home and reunited with her animal, but Walters-Little says victim-survivors shouldn't have to choose between safety and their pet.
"The program prevents people from being forced to sacrifice their animals," Walters-Little explains. "They shouldn't have to choose."
RSPCA NSW is helping refuges and shelters become pet-friendly by building safe animal enclosures and training staff, so owners don't have to be separated from their animals.
It's slow work, but it's important to help victim-survivors with animals access services and flee abuse without being forced to leave their pets behind.
"The part animals play in our lives has really changed and they are considered part of our family, even more so for people in crisis," Withers adds.
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In recent years the government has provided more grants to boost the work organisations like RSPCA NSW are doing, but they always need community support and volunteers.
Recognising that animals are part of the picture in domestic violence situations is the first step and Withers encourages anyone who has the means or time to donate or volunteer.
For more information on domestic violence support, contact the RSPCA Community Programs helpline at (02) 9782 4408.
If you or someone you know is in need of human support contact 1800RESPECT on 1800 732 732 or Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency dial Triple Zero (000).
