In domestic violence cases, pets can become targets as abusers try to assert power over their victims.
Sen. Michael Skindell, a Lakewood Democrat, has introduced a measure that would make clear that judges can extend protection orders to cover companion animals as a means of helping protect victims.
Such protection orders limit the contact an alleged abuser can have with the person seeking protection, ordering the abuser to stay away or allowing the victim safe access if they need to return to a home. In the case of an animal, it would allow victims to take a pet with them if they left home and prohibit the alleged abuser from harming the pet.
The legislation is not simply a bill to stop animal abuse, Skindell said. “The issue is that the person who is committing the violence in domestic violence situations will go after an animal to assert their authority.”
The legislation was drawn up in consultation with the Ohio Domestic Violence Network and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Twenty-four other states already have similar measures on the books, said Lesley Ashworth, a consultant for the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. And research in Ohio that included surveys of domestic violence programs and the victims who use them found large support for pet protection in Ohio.
In one study from 2010 that included interviews with 80 percent of Ohio’s domestic violence programs, 79 percent of the respondents said there was a need for such support and protection.
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