FSDC adds pet area at domestic violence shelter
Family Services of Davidson County is pleased to announce the addition of a pet friendly area to our Domestic Violence Shelter which will allow us to accommodate victims of domestic/sexual violence who have pets.
The shelter expansion will open Jan 1, 2022 and will be the first domestic violence shelter in the Piedmont area and ninth in North Carolina designed to allow for space to accommodate a survivor and pet living together.
Throughout my years at the shelter, I have heard the many stories of abuse and what the families had to leave behind and it was heartbreaking. They would leave behind their clothing, family photos, a child’s favorite toy and their pets. There were some things I knew we could not do anything about, but we could possibly help with their pets. We reached out and found local animal rescues that would help and found foster families but that wasn’t the same as having your pet with you as they are viewed as family members and can bring you much comfort.
According to research cited by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence up to 65 percent of domestic violence victims delay or can’t escape their abusers because they are concerned about what will happen to their pets when they leave and up to 71 percent of women entering domestic violence shelters reported that their partner had threatened, injured or killed family pets.
Pets are not immune to domestic violence. Batterers frequently threaten, injure, maim, or kill their partners’ or children’s pets in conjunction with domestic abuse. Because victims understand the extent of the harm that their abusers will likely inflict upon their pets, many hesitate to leave violent relationships out of concern for the safety of their pets. Recognizing this, an increasing number of shelters have added kennels or instituted “safe haven” animal foster care programs in an effort to protect victims, their children and their pets.
We had a young Eagle Scout, Brady Coltrane, approach us about doing a project that would help us in our efforts to make this a reality. Brady raised money to purchase the materials he would need in order to enhance an existing area so that it could accommodate housing small to large animals. He along with the help of family and friends added kennels and walls between them in order to keep the pets separate. He was also able to purchase some needed items for each kennel such as blankets, toys and beds. We had funding from a grant to fence in an area of our yard for the pets and we also secured a donation from Chewy of needed items to get us started. This project has been a long time dream and seeing it come together has been exciting for our staff and we feel that our community will join in that excitement as well.
Danette Garner
Deputy Director
