IMPORTANT NOTE
It should be noted that these statistics will always show vastly fewer connections than what the reality is, since we are limited to the information we have available, and more importantly because most victims of domestic violence situations do not report their own abuse, let alone animal abuse. Many times the abuser will threaten to harm the animal if the victim attempts to leave the abusive situation or if they try to report the abuser. The statistics below give a better view of the real picture:
- In one study of battered women and children in San Diego, 85% percent of those with pets said heir animals have been neglected or abused. (1999-present - statistics courtesy of Patti Oppelt, Director of the Animal Safehouse Program at RCHS)
- In 88% of 57 New Jersey families being treated for child abuse, animals in the home had been abused.
- Of 23 British families with a history of animal neglect, 83% had been identified by experts as having children at risk of abuse or neglect.
- In one study of battered women, 57% of those with pets said their partners had harmed or killed the animals. One in four said that she stayed with the batterer because she feared leaving the pet behind.
So even at the very lowest end of the scale, that's still 57%. As the AARDAS project progresses and we have the manpower to do periodic criminal record checks on abusers, the accuracy of this statistical report will improve.
Additionally, as innovative programs such as the Animal Safehouse Program become more widespread, this may help. In the meantime, the numbers represented in this chart should ALWAYS be accompanied by the disclaimer that they are not even close to representative of the actual figures, where the percentage of animal abusers is MUCH higher.
Conditions for Use in Other Publications
These graphs may be used freely for your websites, reports, publications, etc. as long as the following conditions are met:
- You must always include a credit to Pet-Abuse.Com and the AARDAS project with each instance of the graphs
- If there is an additional note or disclaimer included with the graph, you must include the disclaimer or note with the graph. (The disclaimers are intended to further explain the data presented. Without the additional information they provide, the data could be misunderstood.)
- If you use these graphs on a website, please do NOT link directly to the graphs themselves. Instead, download the graph to your hard drive and upload them to your own webserver.