Now families can bring their dogs to Brooklyn domestic violence shelter
Many abusers go after pets, too
Now Sparky can come to the shelter.
Many domestic violence victims – up to half, depending on the study — don’t flee from their abusive situations because they are afraid of what will happen to their pets.
In New York City, out of 50 domestic violence shelters, only one, launched by Urban Resource Institute (URI) last year in Brooklyn, allows victims to bring pets to a shelter. But even here, while families were allowed to bring two small animals — cats or a cat and a little critter like a bird, fish, turtle or gerbil — there was no place for dogs.