Violence Link research as well as violence link training is supported by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP), FBI, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), and crime studies by various Universities around the world.
89-93% of intimate partner violence (IPV) cases involve the use of an animal. 56% of women stay or will not report abusive situations to protect their pets.
Of the children exposed to Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), 66% have also been exposed to pet abuse. 51% said they protected one of their pets from being hurt.
Children witnessing animal cruelty experience significantly more risk of adolescent or adult interpersonal violence, and they experience more mental health issues.
A woman whose partner had threatened pets was 5X more likely to experience domestic physical violence in the relationship. The animal is a tool for the abuser to get what they want. Not just idle threats.
Pets are used to coerce, humiliate, and control their victims.
Human trafficking often first presents itself as domestic violence. Young girls think they have a normal relationship, but then the threats are directed at pets to force the girls into human trafficking.
There are many cases where human traffickers use pets to force young women into human trafficking. Famous case in Canada in 2019 (see Video tab) had an human trafficker lure nine women online, kidnap, rape them, and forced them into sex trafficking. These women were not in the sex trade before. They were just animal lovers.
HALF of sexual offenders & ONE-THIRD of child molesters committed animal abuse during adolescence. This same study confirmed childhood sexual assault abusers use animals to lure and/or groom their victims.
Chicago Crime Commission -
• 35% of search warrants executed for animal abuse or dog fighting resulted in seizures of drugs and/or weapons
• 82% of offenders arrested for animal abuse had prior charges for assault, weapons offences, or drugs.
A Chicago Police Study looked at people charged with animal abuse over the course of 3 years, 65% had been arrested for assault of a human being.
An analysis of FBI reports, 96% of animal cruelty offenders had other documented criminal offences (Levitt et al., 2016)
New South Wales Police Study
· Animal abuse is a better predictor of sexual assault than previous convictions for homicide, arson, or weapons offences
· Animal cruelty offenders predominantly have criminal records related to sexual assault, domestic violence, and firearm offences.
