Naturewatch Foundation
Naturewatch Foundation - Advancing Animal Welfare
October 22nd, 2024, saw representatives from across the political parties of the UK supporting our campaign to protect animals and, thereby, protect people.
Thanks to the All-party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group, chaired by Dr Marc Abraham OBE and Rosie Duffield MP, we welcomed these politicians to our event, ‘Animal Abuse within Domestic Abuse’:
- Sadik Al-Hassan, Labour
- Jess Asato, Labour
- Alex Brewer, Liberal Democrats
- Jess Brown-Fuller, Liberal Democrats
- Mims Davies, Conservative
- Marsha de Cordova, Labour
- Rosie Duffield, Independent
- Cat Eccles, Labour
- Will Forster, Liberal Democrats
- Sir Roger Gale, Conservative
- Marie Goldman, Liberal Democrats
- Claire Hanna, Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Rebecca Harris, Conservative
- Tom Hayes, Labour
- Ruth Jones, Labour
- Alex Mayer, Labour
- Caroline Nokes, Conservative
- Joshua Reynolds, Liberal Democrats
- Greg Stafford, Conservative
- Robin Swann, Ulster Unionist Party
- Caroline Voaden, Liberal Democrats
We asked them to help us protect animals used within domestic abuse, the pets harmed as part of the coercive control of humans. Sadly, abusers know how important the animal-human bond is and exploit this to commit a crime that affects an estimated 2.4 million people in the UK and makes up 18% of ALL crime. This hurts animals, who are part of our family, and many suffer long-term effects, injuries or even lose their lives in the violence.
We need politicians’ help to achieve goals such as the mandatory training of safeguarding professionals and the provision of suitable accommodation where victims can flee to safety with ALL their family members.
Our event enabled us to meet and speak with individual politicians. They understood what we were asking for and will take our messaging forward within their respective parties.
Our expert speakers.
We then moved to a committee room in the House of Commons to hear from our impressive panel of expert speakers.
Sarah, our CEO, opened the evening with Dr Marc Abraham and Rosie Duffield MP.
Actor and writer, Sam Beckinsale, shared her experiences of coercive control, recounting a harrowing story that also involved the abuse of her dog, Boudicca. Dr Mary Wakeham, CEO of Refuge4Pets (a specialist pet foster group caring for animals caught up in the abuse), explained her widely used UK-based research. The Links Group, who have been championing this cause for 20 years, were represented by Rebecca Stephens, who explained the role of social work in being part of the solution to break ‘the link’. Leading veterinary surgeon Dave Martin then led everyone through the most horrific crimes that can happen if we don’t take animal welfare seriously. Dr Samantha Pickles, forensic scientist from the University of Bedfordshire, explained the role of her Animal-Related Crime Working Group that is rapidly assembling a high level of experts to protect animals and, therefore, protect people.
As Campaign Manager, I then summed up the evening and explained what we would like to see happen.
We want to:
- Add animal abuse awareness to the domestic abuse prevention toolkit for the criminal justice system.
- Support the animal victims of domestic abuse.
- Increase knowledge around the signs of animal abuse within coercive control.
October is Domestic Abuse Awareness Month, and this has been an extraordinary month for the campaign from when we visited Stormont, Belfast, to opening a major event in Tallinn, Estonia. We also presented at a first global online event for police officers and reached European partners to discuss a new EU recital that should enshrine our campaign objectives in the legislation of Member States.
And, back in England and Wales, we also had great news that another police force has added our information for the animal and human survivors of domestic abuse to their websites. That’s 42/44 websites down – two to go!
Collaborative events like this wouldn’t be possible without you. Thank you to the supporters of Naturewatch Foundation for being part of #BreakingTheLink, together.
Find out more about our work here.
The post Together, for the animal victims of domestic abuse first appeared on Naturewatch Foundation and is written by Morwenna.