Written by Sue O’Neill
As provinces across Canada are declaring gender-based violence (GBV) an epidemic in Canada, it is evident that gender-based violence is happening in our communities and we can all play a role in supporting individuals experiencing GBV. Canadian Animal Health Institute (2022) shared survey results that demonstrate at least 60% of Canadians have a dog or a cat. With 44% of all female identifying Canadians experiencing gender-based violence in their lifetime, there must be a significant number of individuals experiencing gender-based violence who also have relationships with companion animals (WAGE, 2024). Research has shown that individuals experiencing gender-based violence who have companion animals, delay leaving or return to the violent relationship because they are unable to bring their animal with them to an emergency gender-based violence shelter (Giesbrecht, 2022; Stevenson et al., 2018). Additionally, companion animals in homes where GBV is present may also experience abuse, neglect, and/or harm towards the animals can be used by the abuser as a form of coercive control and intimidation, potentially escalating to a fatality (Barrett et al., 2018; Fitzgerald et al., 2022; Giesbrecht, 2022).
This means that community animal safekeeping programs such as pet-friendly emergency gender-based violence shelters, emergency animal fostering programs, and emergency veterinary boarding programs are lifesaving resources for both humans and animals experiencing violence in their homes and making the courageous decision to leave. These programs function differently to serve the same purpose – to support survivors of GBV to be able to flee with their pets. Pet-friendly GBV shelters allow companion animals on site, either living within the same room as the individual, or in a pet safekeeping space on the property of the emergency shelter. Emergency foster and boarding programs offer temporary companion animal safekeeping, with the animal being cared for by the program or by foster volunteers, and the owner taking necessary steps to build a life free from violence for themselves and all of their family members.
Veterinarians and animal welfare professionals play an integral role within these programs. Often companion animals fleeing violence need veterinary care ranging from the updating of vaccinations, to ensure they can enter a safekeeping program, to wellness checks, to ensure the animal’s health after experiencing or witnessing violence in their home. As social workers and counselors support the human survivor in processing their trauma, animal welfare professionals support the animal survivor as both move forward towards a violence free life. Veterinarians and animal welfare professionals are essential to the initiation of programs like this within their community as their expertise can ensure all programs operate with best practices for animal care as a priority.
An innovative example of a community animal safekeeping program is the Edmonton Humane Society’s (EHS) Emergency Boarding Program. This program offers short term emergency sheltering for companion animals belonging to individuals and families experiencing crisis, including those fleeing gender-based violence. The Emergency Boarding Program typically operates through referrals from community partner agencies, however, there is a system too for survivors to refer themselves and be connected with community support services. This connection to community support services is helpful for the individual or family needing emergency boarding for their companion animal as these services may offer additional programs and resources Jill Fell, EHS’ Outreach Program Coordinator, helped to develop and currently coordinates the emergency boarding program. Jill shared with me that this collaboration between the Edmonton Humane Society team and the community support service can help to proactively identify and plan for challenges that may occur for both the human and the animal family members: “As we continue to grow and learn about what we’re doing, we find approaches to make sure that the program is effective, sustainable, and responsive to the needs of both pets and family members. It’s about balancing the needs of both.”
Collaborating with community support programs creates additional opportunities to be responsive to all family members and develop partnerships that can create capacity and opportunity for creative, innovative, and wrap around support programs.
If you are reading this and wondering how to start a program like this in your community, an important first step to take is to find collaborators and champions within your community to support and uplift your program. The work of supporting individuals and their animals fleeing violence cannot be done alone, and collaboration between animal and human services ensures the needs of all survivors are being met. There may be a program that already exists in your community that you are not aware of, but with your expertise can be expanded to better support the community members accessing the program. Even in communities with pet friendly, emergency, gender-based violence shelters, animal safekeeping foster and boarding programs are still needed as some animals may struggle in a human shelter setting. Collaboration can ensure that your community is prepared to support the varying needs of those seeking safe shelter.
If you have already determined your organization needs to begin an animal safekeeping program to support survivors of gender-based violence, and perhaps families experiencing other crises that impact their ability to house and care for their pets, it is important to determine a program model that will work for your organization with the resources you have to ensure program sustainability. Jill explained that EHS’ Emergency Boarding Program began with an internal committee of members from multiple departments to determine how the organization would make a program like this work, while also considering safety and confidentiality for families, and securing appropriate provincial approval for necessary veterinary care. Jill also shared that she “engaged local partners early on and we also looked at other organizations that were doing similar programs to help us identify best practices and tailor them to our specific community needs.”
Some animal safekeeping programs rely on foster volunteers and operate alongside already successful fostering programs with additional considerations for safety and confidentiality. EHS’ program relies on their foster families to ensure they are not impacting their shelter capacity. Jill noted “We rely heavily on our foster program for expanded capacity and we continuously monitor intake to avoid overextending those resources.” Jill explained this also means considering the potential individual needs of animals such as behavioural challenges, medical care needs, or specific diets and allergies, which all requires careful planning to ensure there is capacity and resources.
Other programs operate as a boarding model with animals boarding in the organization’s physical location with different considerations for safety and confidentiality. Some programs offer a mix of fostering and boarding depending on the pet’s needs or the length of time the program is needed by the family. There are resources listed below that can offer case study examples of different models of animal safekeeping programs. As you develop your program, it is important to consider the resources needed to ensure the program is sustainable – this may include seeking funding or grants, finding foster volunteers, and weaving this program into your organization’s strategic planning. You will also want to determine the expectations of individuals accessing the program and the length of time and amount of support you are able to offer each family – which may need to be determined on a case-by-case basis depending on current resources.
Once you have determined the model that makes sense for your animal safekeeping program, developing clear, concise, and thorough policies and procedures can set your program up for success and clarify responses to potential challenges. Similar to other programs you may already operate, you will want to consider intake policies and procedures. When creating these policies, you will want to ensure they are trauma-informed to best support individuals who have experienced gender-based violence. There are sample intake forms and policies available in the resources listed below, and it may be helpful to collaborate with a local GBV organization in your community that can offer support and feedback for how to make your policies and procedures trauma-informed. It is essential to develop trauma-informed procedures for intake, discharge, and while the animal is in your care program. Essential considerations for trauma-informed procedures include considering language use, what information is collected, how it is shared, and ensuring informed. Jill also recommends bringing in different perspectives while planning and developing your program as they can offer new ideas of situations and challenges you might face and how you can address these.
As you develop policies for your program, you may want to consider policies for scenarios you may face when supporting survivors of GBV and their pets. This may include:
- How to handle animals needing unexpected veterinary care and how this will be funded and/or the expectations on the pet parent.
- The process for when communication is lost with a pet parent and the next steps for the animal in your care.
- The organization’s response if an ex-partner of an individual accessing your program were to contact your organization
- How to support staff and foster volunteers in preparing to support animals in this program.
For many of these policies, you may need to research legislation in your province to ensure your policies and procedures align with current legislation regarding consent and veterinary care, surrendering an animal, and pet ownership in marital and common law relationships. Connecting with other organizations that offer pet safekeeping or work in the GBV sector may help you to access information and training that can develop your policies, as well as the skills and knowledge of your team to prepare for the expected and unexpected.
As Jill emphasized throughout my chat with her, developing partnerships can be one of the keys to a successful program, as community collaboration can result in the sharing of knowledge, resources, funding, and capacity. When considering developing a partnership with other organizations to support or co-facilitate your animal safekeeping program, developing clear guidelines and agreements for responsibilities and expectations can help set partnerships up for success. Utilizing an MOU or partnership agreement can ensure that all organizations are aware of their role and willing to commit resources, time, and staffing to ensure the success of the program. Many times, partnerships develop organically as a program grows, such as an animal welfare organization starting an animal safekeeping program and later collaborating with a GBV shelter to support individuals accessing services at the GBV shelter. These partnerships can lead to better, wrap-around support for human and animal survivors who have fled violence. It is important to ensure that there are clear organization-level expectations and commitment when creating a partnership. If the partnership is dependent on individuals within each organization, staff turnover could lead to the partnership disintegrating.
As you develop your program, you may want to also consider engaging your community. The community can offer support with funding, fostering, and the sustainability of the program. Organizations often worry when they begin an animal safekeeping program that if they promote the program within the community, they will be overwhelmed with the number of individuals attempting to access the program. Although gender-based violence is an epidemic across Canada, many programs take time to fill to capacity when initiating a program like this. If you do not promote your program within the community, survivors may not know it exists and may remain in violent situations as they do not believe they can safely leave with their animals. Promoting your program within the community, informs individuals experiencing gender-based violence that support exists, as well as raising awareness within your community that gender-based violence is occurring in the community.
Jill offers some wisdom for addressing challenges, as she has seen many throughout her time developing and supporting EHS’ Emergency Boarding Program. Jill emphasizes the importance of having open communication with staff, volunteers, and community partners, to be able to regularly monitor capacity, make adjustments, and ensure that the program is able to handle growth without overextending the internal team, foster base, and community partnerships. Jill also highlighted how having a shared vision of supporting companion animals to stay with their families, when possible, can support an animal safekeeping program’s internal success.
“In a dream world, the work of animal welfare will be supporting communities, and we won’t have intakes because pets will be supported within their families so they can stay together. The greatest success of the program isn’t just one moment. It’s every time we reunite a pet with their family because that is the ultimate goal. We are providing a safe place for animals while their owners are navigating tough situations and then seeing them go home together which reinforces the purpose of the program every time it happens.”
As you finish reading this article, I encourage you to take a first step today which can be as simple as sharing with someone that: Often when violence is happening in the home, individuals experiencing gender-based violence are forced to make an impossible decision between their safety and the safety of their companion animals. It’s a decision that no one should ever have to make.
Resources:
Humane Canada’s ACT to Keep Families Safe Online Learning Centre
Co-Sheltering Collaborative (Includes a Canadian Working Group)