Domestic violence against women and children is currently recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a public health problem that generates innumerable economic losses worldwide, and adds the morbidity and mortality different diseases as a result of physical injury and psychological abuse inflicted by the abuser.¹ Several studies have found a co-occurrence between the presence of domestic violence in the family and physical abuse, psychological or neglect in children², demonstrating that a violent environment all the people who make up this environment may be at risk of different types of abuse³. The pets are also affected.

In 1998, a pioneering work with the participation of 38 women victims of domestic violence living in a shelter in Utah in the United States found that 71% of women reported that their intimate partner had threatened or injured one or more of their animal company.⁴ A more recent study found that 52.5% of women victims reported that their spouse had threatened, injured or killed your pet, against 12.5% of the group of women who had not experienced violence. Dogs and cats are the animals most commonly pitied as birds and small rodents are a small number in the statistics.⁵

Inferring that the animals are usually the first victims of domestic violence, the suspicion of cruelty, abuse and neglect against pets can be used as a sentinel in the detection and/or prevention of other types of violence, allowing prompt intervention by a multidisciplinary health team, with emphasize to the importance of the participation of veterinarians, who may be the first or only professionals to have access to situations of abuse in the family context.⁶

Women who suffer abuse are socially isolated by the abuser, developing a closer bond with your pet. In a study of Southern California, of 42 women interviewed 73.2% reported that their pet was an important emotional support³, so that the time to seek help or shelter a woman victim of abuse can come to postpone his decision out of the situation of violence by concern for the safety of your pet^4,5. In another study of 41 housed women, 20 reported that their partner had threatened and/or hurt their pet; of these, 26.8% reported that their concern for the welfare of their animals had affected their decision to leave the situation of violence home, endangering their own integrity.⁷

Pets can serve as sentinels for domestic violence. The non-accidental trauma diagnóstic is essential to help both animals and people involved in violent homes. Intersectoral and multidisciplinary strategies are essential for the diagnosis of violent homes, prevention and avoidance of violence, and protection and treatment to the human and animal victimized. Create a safety network with different sectors - public, private and third sector - animal control and protection agencies, protection of children and adolescents, social assistance, health and education, among others, to facilitate the identification of vulnerable families and exchange information, may make more consistent the surveillance of domestic violence and its solution.

References

1.  Labronici LM, Ferraz MIR, Trigueiro TH, Fegadoli D. Perfil da violência contra mulheres atendidas na Pousada de Maria. Revista da Escola de Enfermagem. 2010;126–133.

2.  Reichenheim ME, Dias AS, Moraes CL. Co-ocorrêncian de violência física conjugal e contra filhos em serviços de saúde. Revista de Saude Publica. 2006;40(4):595–603.

3.  Flynn CP. Woman's best friend pet abuse and the role of companion animals in the lives of battered women. Violence Against Women. 2000;6(2):162–177.

4.  Ascione FR. Battered women's reports of their partners' and their children's cruelty to animals. Journal of Emotional Abuse. 1998;1(1):119–133.

5.  Ascione FR, Weber CV, Thompson TM, et al. Battered pets and domestic violence: animal abuse reported by women experiencing intimate violence and by non-abused women. Violence Against Women. 2007;13(4)354–373.

6.  LandaUR. A survey of teaching and implementation: the veterinarian's role in recognizing and reporting abuse. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 1999;215(3)328–331.

7.  Faver CA, Strand EB. To leave or to stay?: Battered women's concern for vulnerable pets. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 2003;18(12):1367–1377.