Pets and Domestic Violence

An Act Relative to Domestic Violence and Animals
S.  682   

NEW:  On November 28, 2011, a conference committee was appointed to work out the differences in House and Senate versions of a habitual offender/crime bill (H. 3818/S. 2080).  The Senate version contains the language of S. 682, an amendment that was filed by Senator Katherine Clark.  The conference committee will work on this in the next 6 weeks or so.

What you can do:

1) If one of these representatives or senators is yours, please contact them asap and ask them to keep Section 49B of S. 2080 in the final version of the bill relating to habitual offenders, sentencing and improving law enforcement tools. See key points below.

2) If neither of your legislators is on this conference committee, you can still urge your own legislators to support this provision by asking them to speak to their colleagues on this committee.

Conference Committee (if you do not know who represents you, please go to www.wheredoivotema.com):

Senator Cynthia Creem
State House
Room 405
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-1639
Fax: 617-722-1266
Email: Cynthia.Creem@masenate.gov

Senator Steven Baddour
State House
Room 208
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-1604
Fax: 617-722-1999
Email: Steven.Baddour@masenate.gov

Senator Bruce Tarr
State House
Room 308
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-1600
Fax: (617) 722-1310
Email: Bruce.Tarr@masenate.gov

Representative Eugene O'Flaherty
State House
Room 136
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2396
Fax: 617-722-2819
Email: Gene.OFlaherty@mahouse.gov

Representative David Linsky
State House
Room 146
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2575
Fax: 617-722-2238
Email: David.Linsky@mahouse.gov

Representative Brad Hill
State House
Room 128
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2100
Email: Brad.Hill@mahouse.gov

Thank you to Rep. Cory Atkins, who filed this as a non-monetary budget amendment (#753) with the language of this bill.  Read the WickedLocal article or the Gloucester Times editorial.  While it did not make it into the budget, we appreciate the additional awareness rasied due to her efforts.

This bill enables courts to order the protection of an animal through existing specific statutes that authorize restraining orders or orders to vacate or stay away.

What This Bill Would Do:
The bill would provide protection for both human and animal victims of domestic violence. The link between animal cruelty and human violence is well documented in both study statistics and stories of abuse. Like children, pets are often used as pawns in domestic violence. Batterers abuse animals for a variety of reasons - to demonstrate power and control, to retaliate for acts of independence, to keep a victim silent and to coerce a victim to return or stay in an abusive relationship.

Fear for the welfare of a household pet often prevents battered women from escaping abusive relationships. One study found that up to 48% of battered women will not leave, or will return to a violent relationship due to fear of what might happen to the animal if left behind. (Ascione, F.R. (2007) Emerging research on animal abuse as a risk factor for intimate partner violence. In K. Kendall-Tackett & S. Giacomoni, eds.: Intimate Partner Violence. Kingston, NJ: Civic Research Institute.)

In addition to the MSPCA, supporters include many domestic violence organizations (to add your organization, click here):

Link Up Education Network
Human/Animal Violence Education Network
REACH Beyond Domestic Violence
Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence
Dove, Inc.
Renewal House
Our Sister's Place, Fall River
Womanshelter/Companeras
YWCA of Western Massachusetts
American Humane Association
The Humane Society of the United States

Seventeen states (and the District of Columbia) have laws to include pets in domestic violence orders: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia.

Sponsor:   Senator Clark

-- Find out who your legislators are.
-- Find out more about legislators.
-- Read an letter in the Ipswich Chronicle
-- Read more about this issue from The Humane Society of the United States' First Strike Campaign (.pdf)
-- Read an article about this issue in O, the Oprah Magazine
-- Sign up here to receive news and alerts on legislation
-- Visit the Animal Legal and Historical Center for state summaries of this type of law.