Animals: The Forgotten Victims

• Many animals become witness to abuse of the people they love; these pets can become afraid and withdrawn, or fearful.
• Many animals become “accustomed” to the chaos and yelling that often accompanies abuse. These animals may be become withdrawn, or may regress to earlier stages of behavior (chewing, housebreaking problems) out of fear and frustration.
• Many animals become victims of abuse, themselves. While animals tend to be remarkably forgiving—and are willing to give people another chance even after they’ve been hurt—the consequences of abuse can be wide-ranging.
• An animal may become withdrawn and fearful.
• An animal may become aggressive when afraid (especially when exposed to the abuser, or someone who reminds him of the abuser)

Why harm animals?
Experts have long-recognized the link between violence perpetrated against intimate partners, children, family members, and that against animals. In violent homes, animals may become pawns, with abusers threatening (or carrying out) acts of violence against a beloved pet. Very often, if a person punches, kicks, throws or hurts an animal, he or she may harm a person as well – especially a child. Likewise, in a home where there is emotional or physical abuse, pets may also be at risk.

Abusive persons may threaten to harm, inflict harm, or even kill a family pet for a number of reasons:

• To demonstrate power and control over the family and force the family members to keep the violence a secret
• To keep the victim from leaving, or to punish her for leaving
• To isolate the victim and children
• To prevent a child from reporting sexual abuse
• To extort an elderly person