Even if you don’t understand or don’t care that cruelty to animals is wrong, perhaps you will care if you learn this fact: In a home where animals are being abused, simultaneously there child, spousal or even elder abuse going on. It’s a phenomenon, first popularized by the American Humane Association called the Link.

Phil Arkow

            Phil Arkow, director of Violence Prevention Programs at American Humane said the concept was actually discovered back in the 13th Century. “A person who harms animals is likely to harm people – that’s the Link.”

            Arkow was among those on the scene when the discovery of the Link was ‘re-discovered in the 1990’s backed with significant data, which wasn’t so available in the 13th Century. Arkow co-authored (with Frank Ascione) “Child Abuse, Domestic Violence and Animal Abuse: Linking the Circles of Compassion for Prevention and Intervention” in 1999. 

            While professionals in various fields are today aware of the Link, the challenge is finding ways which agencies from children’s services to animal welfare/animal control to police, veterinarians, prosecutors and judges can all act on what they know, and work together. Another key is public awareness.

             To that end, Congress is expected to pass a resolution to proclaim September as National Link Awareness Month.

            “Invariably, if you know a pet is being abused, chances are something else, another form of violence is going on in that same home,” says Arkow.

            Allie Phillips, director of Public Policy at American Humane adds, “It’s tempting to ignore something that you know or even suspect is going on down the block or next door. Then people rationalize on why they’re not speaking up, perhaps saying ‘It’s only an animal.’ Well, we know it’s not typically only an animal.”

            If you want data, there’s plenty of it – enough to motivate both sides of the aisle in the U.S. Congress. According to research conducted by Ascione (Arkow’s co-author) in 1997, 88 percent of homes with physically abused children have abused or neglected pets. Trekking data over the past few years in Chicago, 70 per cent of dog fighting and animal abuse offenders have also been arrested for violent felonies against people, and 86 per cent of those who have committed crimes against animals have been arrested for multiple violence offenses. A study by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Boston’s Northeastern University showed those who attend dog fights and witness other forms of animal cruelty are five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people. The message: Violence begets violence.

86% who committed crimes against animals are arrested for multiple violence offenses

             In another recent nationwide study, 71 percent of battered women reported their abusers harmed, killed or threatened their pets. For example, Phillips says that pets are even frequently used as a pawn; abusers threaten to harm defenseless animals if a spouse or children report the abuser’s crimes. “Abusers practice on pets, and they also use pets for control,” Phillips adds.

            In America, pets are overwhelmingly considered members of the family, even in abused families. However, most women’s shelters don’t accept pets. That’s why earlier this year, American Humane launched an initiative called PAWS or Pets and Women’s Shelter Program. This is a free resource available to women’s shelters to encourage creative means to support on-site housing for animals.

              Phillips says that the next step is to support inter-agency cross reporting, which is a complex issue. In other words if an animal welfare or animal control investigator witnesses evidence of animal abuse, that in of itself may be a logical and statistical explanation for leaping to a conclusion that another kind of abuse may be going on in the home. However, leaping to conclusions without due cause may be a legal issue. That’s not to mention the frequently heard concerns of local and state agencies – particularly those dealing in child welfare – of being under-staffed and overworked. Even veterinarians would possibly speak up in good faith more frequently, as long as there are laws in place to protect good faith reporters from being liable (of making false accusations).

            “Professionals have begun to recognize that animal violence and human violence go hand in paw,” says Arkow. “The answer is a holistic approach, understanding the problem isn’t in one corner of the world. Various agencies are all dealing with the same perpetrators and also the same victims, and can help one another if they can work with one another.”

            Legal obstacles have been hurdled as cross-reporting is happening in some places. Phillips notes that prosecutors in many communities are now taking animal cruelty seriously. In any case, there are laws on the books concerning animal cruelty in all states, and it’s their job to follow the laws.

            Arkow participated in the recent National Link Coalition, sponsored by American Humane and the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust and the Linkage Project. Experts at this ‘Town Meeting’ agreed to concentrate on five strategies:

• Strengthening and continuing to build coalitions among various professions and agencies so everyone’s on the same page.
• Further professional training
• Though the body of research on the existence of the Link is now indisputable, additional research is still needed. For example, why area some people violent in the first place.
• Addressing the root cause of what causes abuse
• Public awareness       

Congress plans on supporting Link awareness to encourage public consciousness. Violence is at the moment pervasive and contagious; American Humane may not yet have the cure – but they’ve identified ‘the illness.’ “The more we understand about The Link, the more we can do to diminish violence in our society – or at least that’s the goal,” Arkow says.

© Steve Dale, Tribune Media Services