Final Report on the project entitled: Animal Welfare and Domestic Violence

This article presents a research study assessesing animal maltreatment in samples of women seeking safety at shelters and community samples of women. Women in shelter were much more likely (54%) to report partners' hurting or killing of their pets than women not in shelter (3.5%). In addition, 1 in 4 women in shelter reported that concern for their pets had deterred them from coming into shelter earlier. Consideration when utilizing this resource: The author assessed levels of family violence (not including pet abuse) using the well known Conflict Tactics Scale. Although this measurement tool is the most widely used and cited quantitative measure of victimization in North American intimate heterosexual relationships, many researchers and practitioners contend that several major limitations with these measures hinder or even preclude the development of accurate data.