Maine extends domestic abuse protection to pets
Measure aims to help pet owners leave abusive relationships

Tuesday, April 11, 2006; Posted: 9:36 a.m. EDT (13:36 GMT)

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Spurred by growing evidence of a link between
domestic violence and animal abuse, Maine has enacted a
first-in-the-nation law that allows judges to include pets in
protection orders for spouses and partners leaving abusive
relationships.

In helping pets, advocates hope to help battered women and others who
aren't willing to abandon their animals to get out of a bad
relationship.

"This is a very innovative, new approach, and it makes perfect sense
because the protection order is a critical stage for women and others
seeking protection," said Nancy Perry of the Washington, D.C.-based
Humane Society of the United States.

Gov. John Baldacci says the law, which provides for civil penalties
such as fines or jail time for those who violate a protection order,
should give pause to abusers who might resort to violence or threats
against pets as a means of keeping their victims from leaving a
relationship.

Law enforcement officials, animal welfare agents and advocates for
domestic violence victims say it's not unusual to hear of abusers who
vent their rage against a partner's pet.

"It's just another tactic to keep power and control over the victim,"
said Cindy Peoples of Caring Unlimited, a shelter in York County.

Susan Walsh, whose dog and sheep were killed by her husband, said many
victims stand to benefit from including pets in protection orders.

"I've heard so many horror stories from other women that I knew I was
not alone," she said.
'Hard to pack up a barn full of animals'

When the bill came up for consideration at a public hearing in January,
Walsh recounted how she remained in an abusive marriage in part out of
fear for what might happen to her pets and farm animals if she left.

Walsh said her husband shot two of her sheep inside their Ellsworth
barn. Another time, when she was visiting her parents in Pennsylvania,
he deliberately ran his truck over her deaf and blind border collie in
their driveway, she said.

Walsh, who stayed in the marriage for more than 12 years before her
divorce in 2001, said she would have left sooner had it not been for
her responsibilities to the animals.

"It's kind of hard to pack up a whole barn full of animals," she said.
"And I knew that any animal I left behind would be dead in 24 hours."

The law was an outgrowth of a seminar by the Maine State Bar
Association in June on the connection between animal abuse and domestic
violence, said Anne Jordan, a Portland lawyer who serves on the Animal
Welfare Advisory Council.

During an informal discussion after the presentation, a judge raised
the idea of expanding the scope of protection orders, Jordan recalled.

Legislative support was overwhelming, said the bill's sponsor, Rep.
John Piotti, a Democrat. He and others cited a study that found that 71
percent of pet-owning women in a Utah shelter said their abusers had
either harmed, killed or threatened their pets.
Other states recognize link

Although Maine's law is unique, other states have statutes that reflect
the link between domestic violence and animal abuse. Laws in
California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio and Tennessee
encourage cross-reporting among agencies involved in law enforcement,
domestic violence, child protection and animal control, Perry said.

Animal welfare agents already have been looking at ways to help
potentially endangered pets whose owners are in abusive situations.

"A growing trend is called safe havens. These are cooperative
agreements between shelters for women and shelters for animals," Perry
said.

Several agencies in Maine participate in a program called PAWS -- Pets
and Women to Safety -- that arranges confidential placement of animals
in foster care so their owners can move into a shelter knowing that
their pets will be safe.

The Animal Welfare Society in Kennebunk has a PAWS program that works
with Caring Unlimited. "They've worked with all kinds of pets and farm
animals," Peoples said, "from cats and dogs to horses and exotic
birds."

MAINE PET PROTECTION LAW
UNIQUE LAW:
Maine's first-in-the-nation law allows judges toinclude pets in
protection orders for spouses and partners leaving abusive
relationships.

WHY PETS?
Advocates hope to help battered women and others who aren't willing to
abandon their animals to be saved themselves.

ELSEWHERE:
Laws in California, Connecticut, Louisiana, Nebraska, Ohio and
Tennessee encourage cross-reporting among agencies involved in law
enforcement, domestic violence, child protection and animal control.