fuzzis
05-22-2008, 09:50 AM
Abuse me, abuse my pet (http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2008/05/22/domestic_animal_abuse/index.html)
... It's a phenomenon that at first seems surprising, but on second thought makes perfect sense: According to the article, researchers are beginning to understand that "with devastating frequency, animals are the collateral victims of domestic violence." Abusers "torture or kill [dogs and cats, lizards and rabbits, horses and other farm animals], or threaten to do so, in order to maintain control of their spouses." Even more upsetting? It works.
As Phil Arkow, head of the human-animal bond programs at the American Humane Association, is quoted as saying, "Pets have become pawns in the battle of power and control that marks domestic violence ... [The abused] not only lose the sense of safety and comfort their animals provide but all too frequently feel unable to leave."
Randall Lockwood, ASPCA senior vice president for anti-cruelty initiatives, reports that he has heard accounts "from victim advocates in all fifty states of a husband or boyfriend who assembles the family and makes them watch as he bludgeons or beats the family dog, cat, horse, cow, bunny, hamster, gerbil -- with the message of, 'You could be next.'" The first published study on the subject, which involved 38 women at a domestic violence shelter, found that 71 percent of the women who owned pets said that their partners had "threatened, tortured -- even killed -- one or more of their animals during the relationship." Subsequent studies have confirmed that, unfortunately, it's a trend....
Before my friend Desi divorced her first husband, he took her and their daughter (a year and a half at the time) out into the hills behind their house and used an AR-15 to annihilate their two dogs. Didn't say a word to her, just methodically shot the dogs. She stayed with him for three years after that. Too scared to leave him.
... It's a phenomenon that at first seems surprising, but on second thought makes perfect sense: According to the article, researchers are beginning to understand that "with devastating frequency, animals are the collateral victims of domestic violence." Abusers "torture or kill [dogs and cats, lizards and rabbits, horses and other farm animals], or threaten to do so, in order to maintain control of their spouses." Even more upsetting? It works.
As Phil Arkow, head of the human-animal bond programs at the American Humane Association, is quoted as saying, "Pets have become pawns in the battle of power and control that marks domestic violence ... [The abused] not only lose the sense of safety and comfort their animals provide but all too frequently feel unable to leave."
Randall Lockwood, ASPCA senior vice president for anti-cruelty initiatives, reports that he has heard accounts "from victim advocates in all fifty states of a husband or boyfriend who assembles the family and makes them watch as he bludgeons or beats the family dog, cat, horse, cow, bunny, hamster, gerbil -- with the message of, 'You could be next.'" The first published study on the subject, which involved 38 women at a domestic violence shelter, found that 71 percent of the women who owned pets said that their partners had "threatened, tortured -- even killed -- one or more of their animals during the relationship." Subsequent studies have confirmed that, unfortunately, it's a trend....
Before my friend Desi divorced her first husband, he took her and their daughter (a year and a half at the time) out into the hills behind their house and used an AR-15 to annihilate their two dogs. Didn't say a word to her, just methodically shot the dogs. She stayed with him for three years after that. Too scared to leave him.