Domestic violence refuges increasingly taking pets who are often escaping abuse too

TWO more Sydney domestic violence refuges will become pet-friendly. Many women won’t leave their pets to escape abuse and 70 per cent of women escaping violence report pet abuse.

West Connect Domestic Violence Services’ Leanne Newac with Sam, a labrador staying at Blacktown’s Jessie Street crisis refuge. Picture: David Swift

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SOON furry members of the family will be able to escape abusive Penrith homes with their humans.

West Connect Domestic Violence Services has confirmed a plan to make one of its two Penrith refuges pet-friendly, which should go a way to encouraging women reluctant to leave violence because of their pets, to seek help.

“I was in a really bad situation and I wouldn’t leave because of my animals,” said Jane, whose name has been changed for her safety.

Jessie Street crisis accommodation manager Leanne Newac with one of their four-legged clients, Bubbi the cat, who belongs to a domestic and family violence victim living at the refuge. Picture: David Swift

Too afraid to report what was happening and too frightened to leave, the 50-year-old suffered the violence inflicted by her partner’s “extremely volatile” ice addicted son in silence.

“He assaulted me, his father, the animals, his brother — anyone that he could get a hold of,” said Jane.

“It was pretty awful. The stomping around the house, banging doors … using all the water in the jug, drinking all the milk.

“I’d play outside with the ball with the dogs he’d come out and get the ball off me and go back in the garage and wouldn’t let me throw it, urinating on the toilet seat, just aggressive.

“Little things that people didn’t see because I was there 24 hours a day.

“(One time) he was just pushing me with all his body and his side was looking at me going ‘Get out of my f***ing house, get out of my f***ing house’.

“And his dad sat there on the recliner and three times as I’m being pushed around the lounge room, I was crying, he’s going ‘What’s going on mate?’

“Three times he asked him that, and he didn’t get up. And then he went in, the father, he went to bed and I said ‘What are you going to do? You’re going to work in the morning’. ‘You’ll be right’.

“And he just went to bed, turned over, left me there. Many times, many times, he just drove off and left me there with this monster.

The owner of Sam the labrador, who is a victim of family and domestic violence, believes her beloved pet also suffered violence at the hands of her abuser. Picture: David Swift

“(The son left at one stage) and when he came back I had to give him the front room where I was in and the mattress, and then I was on blankets on the floor.

“The police have been there so many times; it must have been a dozen times when I lived there, taking him away, wagons, 12 of them come, jumping fences.

“After I left I was told the son’s now beating the father up. The dog attacked him as well, and it’s the father’s dog?! I’d say as he’s beating his dad, the dog’s biting him. I’m just thinking ‘oh, my god’.”

Jane now resides safely with her pet labrador Sam and cat Bubbi at one of WCDVS’s four Western Sydney refuges, Jessie Street in Blacktown, which can take in cats and dogs. But it took her several attempts to leave.

“When I took Bubbi to the vet, they said he had been injured,” said Jane.

“Without them (my pets) I don’t think I would have recovered because I didn’t have anything or anyone, and I needed them.”

Around 70 per cent of women escaping violent homes also report pet abuse, said vet Lydia Tong, who has identified methods to tell the difference between bone fractures caused by accidents and those caused by abuse.

Dr Lydia Tong has identified injuries in animals that may indicate abuse. Picture: Adam Taylor

“There are a lot of cases of quite horrific violence against people and animals but, similarly, the threat of the animals is a form of control,” she said.

In a 2014 study, she collected cases of abused dogs who were punched, hit with a blunt weapon or kicked and examined their fractures. She compared them with genuine accidents, finding five features of fractures that vets could use to distinguish accidents from abuse.

“It’s heart-wrenching for the kids, as well, that have to leave their pets behind,” Jessie Street manager Leanne Newac said.

“To be able to have their pets with them would be amazing.

“I know that they want it (the pet program) up and running ASAP at Penrith.”

She said the Safe Beds for Pets program “is not for everybody”.

She was making reference to a statewide RSPCA program which offers temporary housing for pets of people seeking refuge from domestic violence at all 10 RSPCA shelters, including Katoomba. All animals are accepted.

“A lot of clients at this time — at that crisis point — they want their pets with them, so it’s nice to be able to provide that service,” Ms Newac said.

“And it is very therapeutic for the rest of the house, as well.”

Said Jane: “A couple of the ladies have a down day I say go out the back, sit on the grass … the next minute (Sam) is all over them and 10 minutes later they’re laughing.

Pictured in 2013 is RSPCA community programs supervisor Sandra Ma with injured kitten Lara at the RSPCA Yagoona Shelter. Picture: Melvyn Knipe

“It’s good therapy. They don’t judge, they don’t care how you look. They won’t wake up tomorrow and go ‘No, I don’t love you anymore’.”

According to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, for the 12 months to September 2015 the Penrith local government area recorded the second-highest number of domestic violence-related assaults in NSW, a total of 1027 incidents.

WCDVS had to knock back 1286 women and children in the Nepean-Blue Mountains in the past year alone — that’s 515 women and 771 children. In 72 per cent of cases they were unable to help because there was no accommodation available.

In good news, they recently received enough funding to hire five additional refuge workers, bringing WCDVS’s total staff numbers to 31.

“I believe they were recruiting two new staff for the after-hours, as well,” Ms Newac said.

“We’re not at capacity at the moment, as in outreach, but the turn-always for just the shelters alone are quite big.”

WCDVS covers four local government areas, including Penrith.

For more information and referrals to support services, call the 24-hour NSW Domestic Violence Line on 1800 656 463. Picture: iStock/Getty Images

AT A GLANCE

■ 70 per cent of women escaping violent homes also report pet abuse

■ A survey of women, published by the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, showed 60 per cent had delayed leaving a domestic and family violence relationship because of their animals

■ As of October 2015, more than 250 people’s pets had been sheltered under the statewide RSPCA Safe Beds for Pets program

■ In 2014-15, the RSPCA investigated 60,809 animal cruelty complaints nationally — a 3.78 per cent rise on the previous year

■ This year, the RSPCA laid 1351 charges and finalised 274 prosecutions, of which 263 were successful