Safe Place For Pets is a RedRover project with the National Link Coalition and Sheltering Animals and Families Together. Research clearly shows that offenders of domestic violence often have a pattern of abuse involving all members of the household – including children and pets. When victims of domestic violence seek to escape their abusive homes, they’re not only faced with the challenge of finding shelter for themselves and their children, but also for their pets.

Unfortunately, many shelters do not have the means to house companion animals and many victims are left facing the difficult decision to either leave their pets behind or remain in the abusive environment. Sadly, nearly 50% of victims have delayed leaving abusive relationships out of fear of harm to their animals. Equally disturbing, more than half of victims have reported leaving their pets with their abusers, where the pets may face torture or even death.

Several organizations recognized the lifesaving urgency of this issue, and noticed that one way to address the problem was to make it easy for victims and shelter advocates to locate existing programs that can house victims’ pets.

By creating this one-stop, powerful search directory, we hope to make the process of locating available resources easier in a time of great distress for a victim. Another goal of SafePlaceForPets.org is to raise awareness about how easy it can be to create safe pet housing options and support family violence shelters in their efforts to do so. And lastly, by raising awareness about the issue to those concerned about domestic violence victims and pets, we want to increase access to opportunities to help create and maintain such programs.