Hi all, I saw a post from someone a bit ago inquiring about how to handle situations involving pets where domestic violence is involved in the relationship/living situation, and thought I would share the below resources.

• If you are in the U.S., the Animal Welfare Institute’s Safe Havens Mapping Project will direct you to your nearest sheltering service for pets and companion animals of domestic violence survivors. Some of these shelters house survivors alongside their pets and companion animals.

• Purina’s Purple Leash Project aims to keep pets and abuse survivors together when seeking shelter.

• Review this information for survivors about service dogs, emotional support animals, and therapy dogs. This resource includes information about accommodations under the law for service animals in domestic violence shelters.

• If you are in Canada, you can find a list of shelters that house pets and survivors through RedRover’s directory. Click on the Country dropdown at the top and select Canada.

• The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides safety planning strategies for survivors and their pets. These are practical harm reduction strategies.

• The Animal Legal & Historical Center offers a list of U.S. states that include pets in orders for protection.

• Paws Protect is a free, confidential UK cat fostering service for people fleeing domestic abuse. Areas covered include London and the Home Counties (Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex, Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire).

• If you are in Canada, you can find a list of shelters that house pets and survivors through RedRover’s directory. Click on the Country dropdown at the top and select Canada.

• Endeavour is a UK-based pet fostering organization for survivors in the Northwest of England.

• Learn more about Humane Society International’s work on animal cruelty.

• RedRover’s Safe Escape grants offer timely financial support to enable survivors and their pets to leave abusive homes. Grants are available on a case-by-case basis throughout the United States and may be used to pay for emergency boarding and veterinary care.

• SafePet Ontario of Canada fosters companion animals for women and their children who are fleeing from intimate partner violence into the safety of local Violence Against Women (VAW) shelter. The program provides veterinary intake and long- or short-term fostering for the duration of a woman’s stay in a shelter. Upon exiting the shelter, owners are reunited with their pets so they can move into a better future together.

• Refuge4Pets provides pet fostering services for survivors in Devon and Cornwall of the UK.

• RSPCA of New South Wales, Australia offers a community domestic violence program for pets of domestic violence survivors, through which they provide temporary foster accommodation and/or emergency pet boarding, and financial assistance for veterinary treatment, impound fees, and transport fees.