Addressing the root causes of violence against animals and people in our communities requires building collaborations that include child and animal protection agencies, domestic violence agencies, police forces and veterinarians. Together we can make a difference.

Both as a profession and individually, veterinarians should encourage the development of violence prevention coalitions, including support for cross-training of workers. In some jurisdictions, if an SPCA inspector investigates a case of animal cruelty and there are children in the home, they will automatically notify child protection workers who will also investigate, and vice versa.

As individual veterinarians, we can play a role in the following ways:

• Find out about cross reporting in your community. For an example of cross reporting please see Family and Children’s Services, Wellington County, and the Guelph Humane Society.
• Increase awareness in your practice.
• Increase your understanding of the behaviour of human victims of domestic violence.
• Participate in humane education programs, to teach children and other community members about responsible and humane animal care. Talk to your local humane society/SPCA to find out if they already have such a programme, and how you can help.
• Learn about the cruelty link and how violence affects all family members, including animals. Additional information, and resource material to display in your practice, is available from:
  • Ontario SPCA Family Violence Assistance Program
  • Alberta SPCA Cruelty Connection
  • British Columbia SPCA Violence Link
  • American Humane
• Talk to the women’s shelter in your community. Ask if their intake procedures include a question about pets in the home, and what arrangements the shelter is able to make for those pets if they are in danger. Consider providing temporary housing for such animals.
• Support strengthening and enforcement of federal animal cruelty legislation.

And finally, as veterinarians, we must address individual cases of suspected animal abuse effectively. By directly addressing problems of abuse or neglect that we see in our practices, we can help animals and their families, and be part of the solution to the problems of violence in our communities.

• Increasing Awareness in Your Practice
• Human Victims of Violence
• Providing Temporary Shelter for Pets of Abused Women
  
• Animal Abuse Home Page