When we hear about domestic abuse situations, often, the victims that don’t get reported on are the pets in these homes, and many domestic violence survivors have pets that need care.

“These pets are often the only source of love in that house for those victims, and so … they’re crucial in helping women cope with these terrible situations, and they want to protect the pets, and the pets want to protect them,” said Lynne Meloccaro, the executive director of the Dutchess County SPCA.

The Grace Smith House is a Dutchess County-based non-profit organization that has provided services to domestic abuse survivors since 1981. The group has had a long-standing partnership with the Dutchess County SPCA that allows women staying in the home to have their pets cared for at the animal shelter for as long as their stays last.

“This allows the family to take the pet with them, leave the home and then have the knowledge and the confidence that the pet will be safe, and it just reduces another barrier that victims have when they are considering leaving abusive homes,” said Branka Bryan, the executive director of the Grace Smith House.

According to a 2004 study presented by the Foundation for Interdisciplinary Research and Education Promoting Animal Welfare, nearly half of victims remain in abusive situations because they didn’t want to leave their pet behind.

“If you can put yourself in someone’s situation, I mean, would you leave your pet behind?” Bryan said. “We do things to take care of our pet when we go on vacation, right? We worry about them when we have an extended day at work. Imagine if you are fleeing a situation that is dangerous, abusive, harmful; you know in your mind you would be leaving an animal that would then be exposed to that harm as well.”

Meloccaro said pets can also be victims of domestic violence, and they are sometimes used as leverage to keep the women and/or children in a harmful situation.

“A lot of times, part of the torture that these victims go through is seeing a pet being abused,” Meloccaro said.

A safe pet sheltering program was recommended by the Dutchess County Legislature’s Advisory Committee on Domestic Violence following the 2010 murder of a Hyde Park woman by her husband.

“I actually do remember the first pet that we placed,” Bryan said. “It was a small cat, but we had a woman who left her abusive situation and her cat with her and was determined to sleep in her car.”

With the program’s growth, Bryan said the Grace Smith House provides transportation and support for the women and families to see their pets as often as they’d like.

“I can think of a couple of instances where a victim went up to the SPCA several times a day. They’re able to be with their pet, they can walk their pet, feed their pet, continue to do all of the things they used to do for their pet when they were in the home,” Bryan said.

The program recently received funding to continue from Redl Family Foundation and is now called the Sue A. Redl Program for Animal Victims of Domestic Violence.

“I think this program is absolutely life-saving,” Bryan said.