Women who need to leave dangerous situations are often forced 
to make hard decisions about what to do with their pets and livestock
Rural victims of intimate partner violence have few options when they try to leave their situations.
Shelters may be hours away and they might not have the financial means to leave.
But the situation can be even more complicated when livestock and pets are involved.
Crystal Giesbrecht, research and communications co-ordinator for the Provincial Association of Transition Houses and Services of Saskatchewan, recently conducted a survey of survivors, the public, and those who help both people and animals.
She said more work is required to plan for animal safekeeping, especially in rural areas.
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Other than emergency intervention orders, in which victims are allowed to stay in a home or on the farm and the perpetrator must leave, there are no practical options.
“This, I think, is the big future direction where we need to do more research, yes, but more collaboration and discussion between professionals to figure this out,” she said during a webinar held by the Saskatchewan SPCA.
The survey indicated that in some cases a single horse or a small number of horses could be transported to a neighbour or someone else when the victim left.
In other cases, a neighbour was going to the property to care for the animals. There are also foster options.
“But it’s challenging… because for livestock there’s a certain level of expertise and knowledge you need to care for different types of animals,” Giesbrecht said.
There is also risk to the person going to a property to care for animals left behind.
“We don’t know yet what that solution is and I think that we can get there with cross-sectoral partnerships,” she said.
While the research specifically around livestock safekeeping is limited, the evidence of the link between intimate partner violence (IPV) and animal abuse is documented.
“Sadly, there’s also evidence that when pets are maltreated and intimate partner violence is occurring children are often abused as well and not only are children abused in these situations but they’re harmed by being exposed to IPV and threats to pets,” Giesbrecht said.
Most of the research has been done with women who go to shelters. It’s not known how many choose not to leave because of their animals.
Victims who own livestock have a significant financial investment and unique risk factors, Giesbrecht said.
“That includes geographic distance and isolation, which is exacerbated by weather, by inaccessible roads, long distances to both domestic violence services and supports and veterinary care,” she said.
Emergency response times can be long, and animal welfare services and housing may be limited in their regions.
Rural victims, including First Nations people, also struggle with the perceived lack of anonymity and confidentiality.
Giesbrecht surveyed 60 survivors/victims, including one man, aged 23 to 66. Forty-two percent of them lived in rural communities and 10 percent were on farms. Eighteen percent owned livestock, while 97 percent had pets.
She interviewed 15 female survivors, who owned pets as well as horses, cattle, pigs, mules, donkeys and chickens.
Of the interviewees, 95 percent were no longer in the abusive relationship. They had left or ended the relationship an average of five times before it truly ended. Three were still in the relationships but two said they had tried to leave.
Their situations vary widely, as do their reasons for staying. For example, one woman said she lived at a place where cats were frequently dropped off. She would make sure they were healthy and try to rehome them.
“The cats kept coming and this was a consideration because if she left that property the cats would not be cared for,” said Giesbrecht.
She said the animals can be owned jointly or separately, which affects a victim’s decisions. Some victims said they could keep animals safe if they stayed but knew the animals would be in danger if they left.
Victims of violence are often the caregivers for most of the animals in these situations, research has shown.
“They’re cleaning up after pets. They’re vaccinating cows and they’re making sure that animals have food,” Giesbrecht said.
The abuse isn’t just physical, but can be psychological, emotional, verbal, financial, sexual and spiritual. Some perpetrators use violence toward animals to terrorize and control victims, she noted.
She quoted one survivor: “He enjoyed the fear the animals had. It’s what he started doing to me. He didn’t have to threaten to kill me with an object because I knew he could with his bare hands. He beat a calf so bad that it died the next day from its injuries. I knew that was a message to me that he could kill me anytime he wanted to.”
Concern for animals in those situations keeps victims from leaving.
If they do leave and return to care for pets and livestock they’ve left behind, they place themselves at risk.
Few places allow victims to take pets. One social worker reported to the survey that some people have lived in their cars so they can keep their pets. They don’t want to risk losing them if they surrender them to a shelter or foster care.
The most common supports come from family and close friends when it comes to both pets and livestock.
Giesbrecht said positive working relationships among different agencies that help people and animals, as well as veterinarians, continue to develop, but the availability of services depends on where they live.
She urged shelters to look at ways they could accommodate pets, taking allergies and other things into consideration, and she said animal welfare agencies should ask about intimate partner violence and human service agencies should ask about animal abuse.
“When intimate partner violence agencies ask about animal safety they’re fulfilling their mandate by reducing barriers to victim safety,” she said. “When animal welfare organizations ask about intimate partner violence they help to build a society where both animals and people are free from violence.”
