Thanks to a new partnership with Lewis & Clark Humane Society, The Friendship Center is now able to offer temporary, safe housing for pets at no cost to our clients.

Leaving any kind of relationship can be difficult, and the stakes are often much more dire in an abusive relationship. Any threat to an established pattern of power and control can be intolerable for an abuser. Leaving can be the sign of defiance that triggers new extremes of violence against both survivors and their loved ones. Sadly, the harm can extend to beloved pets.

The connection between pets and domestic violence is stronger than most realize. Consider some of the following facts:

• Up to 70% of domestic violence victims have pets. Of those with pets, 48-71% report that their pets have been abused or killed.

• Anywhere between one in five to over three in five domestic violence victims delay leaving a dangerous situation because they don’t know where to place or how to protect their pets. Some survivors will even resort to living in their cars to avoid being separated from their pets—an option that comes with its own safety risks since homelessness greatly increases a person’s risk of violent victimization.

• Abusive partners often use the bond between survivors and their pets to control, manipulate, and isolate. As many as 25% of survivors will return because the abuser is using a pet as a pawn to coerce a survivor into returning.

• As of May 2024, only 19% of domestic violence shelters in the U.S. are equipped to accommodate pets. As a result, more than half of survivors in shelters leave their pets with abusers.

• 91% of survivors say that their pet was significant in their ability to survive and heal.

 

Like the majority of shelter facilities for those fleeing violence, The Friendship Center's onsite safe shelter is not designed to house animals, and our offsite emergency shelter options are similarly limiting. This gap in safe housing for pets leaves many survivors in our own community faced with making the impossible choice between their own safety, and the safety of their pets.

With the support of a RedRover Safe Housing grant, The Friendship Center is now teaming up with Lewis & Clark Humane Society (LCHS) to offer free safe housing for pets to those who are escaping violence. By offering this service in our community, it’s our hope that we’re helping to subtract at least one of the complex reasons that so many survivors struggle to leave an abusive relationship.

Beyond eliminating violence, we envision a community where everyone can access the healing and resources they need to thrive in healthy relationships. For many of us, pets are among the most unconditional sources of love we have. Working together to give people and their companion animals the space and safety to heal together is one powerful way we can stem the cycle of abuse and lay a foundation of hope for survivors in our community.

If you or somebody you know is experiencing domestic violence, and safe housing for a pet is a barrier to leaving a relationship or seeking resources like safe shelter, LCHS and TFC can help!