Domestic violence does not happen in isolation from other forms of violence, and there is a growing recognition that domestic violence, child abuse, and animal abuse often occur in the same households. Recent studies have found that many women seeking shelter in safehouses report that their abuser had threatened to harm or had harmed/killed their pet and that concern about their pets’ safety caused them to delay leaving an abusive situation. Few safehouses in the United States, however, have established programs to provide temporary shelter for women’s companion animals. The following activist/advocate note outlines the development of one animal foster program at a women’s safehouse in Colorado.
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