Book review:Safe Havens for Pets: Guidelines for Programs Sheltering Pets for Women who are Battered

Book Review
Safe Havens for Pets: Guidelines for Programs Sheltering Pets for Women who are Battered

by Frank Ascione, PhD

The success stories are too moving to ignore:

One woman was about to return to an abusive situation because she feared for her pet bird. When she learned about a program that would provide shelter for the bird while she relocated, she was able to break free from her batterer.

Animal protection organizations can obtain a free copy of the book by sending a self-adhesive, self-addressed mailing label to Frank Ascione, Department of Psychology, Utah State University, 2810 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT 84332-2810; 435-797-1464; Esta dirección electrónica esta protegida contra spam bots. Necesita activar JavaScript para visualizarla

A third woman left her abuser, taking her two daughters and three horses—one of whom had also been abused—with her. An animal shelter boarded the horses for four months, until the woman relocated and found a job at a ranch where she could keep her pets.

These tales are a testament to the effectiveness of programs providing refuge for pets of domestic violence victims. Gathered through interviews with 21 domestic violence agencies and 20 animal protection agencies from Alaska to Florida, the anecdotes may offer inspiration to other organizations interested in starting pet-refuge programs of their own.

That's one of the goals behind the book, Safe Havens for Pets: Guidelines for Programs Sheltering Pets for Women who are Battered, by Frank Ascione, PhD, a Utah State University psychology professor. In attempting to answer the many inquiries he has received over the years regarding implementation of pet-refuge programs, Ascione realized a need for a resource that would detail the collective wisdom of those programs already in existence.

A researcher who has long focused on human-animal relations, Ascione set out to produce Safe Havens for Pets with the help of funding from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. In addition to interviewing local agencies, he solicited the input of The HSUS, the American Humane Association, and national domestic violence prevention organizations in developing his guidelines.

In those guidelines, he writes that agencies need to carefully address issues such as safety, confidentiality, pet ownership rights, veterinary care, transportation, women's post-shelter housing, publicity, staff training, and ethical concerns.

Based on lengthy interviews that included 141 questions, Ascione developed 28 specific recommendations for implementing and monitoring the programs he refers to generally as "Safe Havens for Pets"or SHPs. Recommendations for animal shelters include the following: