Awareness can change a society: The link between animal abuse and domestic violence in the Netherlands

Abstract

There is a growing awareness of the relationship between animal abuse and domestic violence. In the Netherlands, the topic was unknown until research in 2009 (Enders-Slegers & Jansen) revealed that 60 % of the interviewed veterinarians for pet animals (N = 108) in the Netherlands noticed animal abuse in their practices. In one-third of the cases they supposed or were sure that other forms of violence occurred in the family as well (child abuse, partner abuse). A second research project (Garnier and Enders-Slegers, Huiselijk geweld en dierenmishandeling in Nederland. Rapport Kadera aanpak huiselijk geweld. Retrieved September 10, 2015, from http://www.kadera.nl, 2012) with female pet owners in the Dutch general population (N = 111) and with female pet owners in women’s shelters (N = 51) affirmed these findings. The results show that animal cruelty occurs significantly more often among battered women compared to women in the general population. One-third of the women reported that the partner (or ex-partner) threatened to hurt the pet and 55 % reported that the partner had hurt or killed the pet. The research findings of both studies are discussed in this chapter, as are the social developments following upon the growing awareness in Dutch society of this relationship of violence. Such developments include, for instance, the formal obligation of veterinarians to report animal abuse, the development of foster care for animals from violent families and animal police, and the embedding of “animal abuse” in risk assessment questionnaires.