Baroness Hayman warned women feel trapped in violent and abusive relationships because they fear for their pets’ safety as she pointed to vital support
Labour’s animal welfare chief has pledged tough action to tackle abusers who exploit their victims’ love for their pets.
Baroness Hayman said the Government is working to break the link between domestic abuse and violence or threats against animals. It comes as experts warn the fear of pets being harmed often stops victims leaving dangerous and abusive relationships.
The animal welfare minister told The Mirror that microchipping processes will be strengthened to ensure perpetrators cannot seek to track down survivors. She urged anyone seeking to escape to seek out domestc abuse fostering services – offered by charities likes Cats Protection and the Dogs Trust.
Baroness Hayman, a lifelong animal welfare campaigner, said: “You’ve got this coercive control issue, by which people who are suffering from domestic violence can be manipulated and exploited, and it’s much, much harder to leave.
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“It’s hard to leave anyway, it becomes much harder to leave if you’re concerned about leaving your pet behind.” And she said: “If you’re fleeing domestic abuse and you are frightened for your pet, you can have the assurance that there is someone there who will take your pet and look after it until you find somewhere safe to live.
“That’s hugely important.” The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has commissioned research into the link between animal abuse. This will look at ways authorities can intervene faster to protect human victims as well as animals.
And work is being carried out to train vets to spot signs of animal abuse that could be linked to domestic violence and coersion. Defra has said steps will also be taken to strengthen the pet microchipping regime to ensure victim-survivors’ details cannot be accessed or exploited by perpetrators.
In October a grim study by the National Centre for Domestic Violence (NCDV) found thousands of cases where abusers used pets to control their victims. The charity’s analysis of over 64,000 witness statements found one in 15 contained an explicit mention of threats, harm or risk to pets. This is a barrier to leaving and a marker of heightened risk, it said.
Amy Hyde, national lifeline service manager at Cats Protection, said the charity’s fostering service had looked after more than 600 pets belonging to people escaping abuse last year.
She told The Mirror: “There can be a real strategy of coercive control. And it is such an awfully powerful tool that a perpetrator will use because people will go to any lengths to try and protect their animals. Just the threat of knowing something could happen at any point is just is just so traumatic for the victim survivor.
“And I’ve spoken to women that have said ‘if I’d have known about the fostering services earlier, I would have left five years before I did.”
Last year cross-party MPs have called for pets to be recognised in domestic abuse orders. Campaigners warn that under current law, the Domestic Abuse Act does not explicitly consider pet abuse as a form of coercive control.
And there is no clear law for transferring ownership of a pet to an abuse survivor, while courts do not always prioritise pet welfare.
Meanwhile many domestic abuse shelters do not accommodate animals. Ms Hyde said this makes foster services like Cats Protection’s vital.
She said: “Cats stay with us on average six to nine months. It depends how long it takes victim-survivors to get that support and to get settled in new housing. We cover all the costs for the cats while they stay with us.
“And they’re all cared for by the most incredible volunteer foster carers who just open their homes and hearts to these cats. And when they’re ready to be reunited with their families we always get a very excited phone call from the owners.
“And that’s definitely the nicest part of the the team’s job. It is a very emotional moment, but really lovely to see at the end.”