Welcoming Pets at Domestic Violence Shelters Would Keep Both Animals and Humans Safe

You're considering fleeing a household filled with domestic violence, but the local shelters are telling you that you can't bring your beloved companion animal. Can you imagine leaving your defenseless pet - who depends on you for safety and protection - behind?

Countless survivors face this heartbreaking choice between their own safety and their pets' safety every day in Texas and across the U.S.

Luckily, a new, life-saving initiative in Houston, Texas, is showing us a better way - one that we believe should be adopted statewide. Sign the petition to urge Texas to improve access to pet-friendly domestic violence shelters!

The Houston Area Women's Center is leading the charge to protect survivors and their beloved pets. With a new shelter opening in 2025, they'll create a safe haven where survivors and pets can live together, free from harm. This facility will join only 250 pet-friendly domestic violence shelters in the country - a staggering gap that leaves too many survivors trapped.

Why is this so critical? A study from the National Link Coalition found that 71% of survivors reported their abuser had harmed, threatened, or killed a pet to maintain control. And these violent threats work. Many survivors remain in dangerous homes solely to protect their pets from harm. In some cases, children have even witnessed this abuse, compounding their trauma and highlighting the risk of abusers perpetrating future violence against kids as well.

Without more pet-friendly shelters, survivors have two impossible choices: risk their own lives to protect their pets or leave their pets behind, defenseless. With both human and animal lives at stake, we cannot afford to ignore this link between animal cruelty and domestic violence any longer.

It's time to expand Texas's pet-friendly domestic violence shelters statewide. Sign the petition today to urge Texas lawmakers to follow Houston's example. Survivors and their pets deserve safety, dignity, and the chance to escape abuse - together.
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