More Domestic Violence Shelters Are Taking in Pets

When her abusive husband left for work last fall, she grabbed her kids, her dog and her bags, only to run up against a heart-wrenching obstacle: None of the city's more than 50 domestic violence shelters would accept the pet.

"Should I still leave?" the 34-year-old woman asked herself before fleeing and ultimately finding a foster home for her Chihuahua.

Now, after months apart, the family and Peppah the Chihuahua recently moved into the city's first pet friendly domestic violence shelter, one of a growing number across the country that address a common reason victims are reluctant to leave — they don't want to leave their pets behind.

Ranging from urban apartments to Western ranches, their numbers have shot up from four in 2008 to at least 73 now, with 15 more planned, according to Allie Phillips, a former Michigan prosecutor who has become a leading advocate for such shelters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/more-domestic-violence-shelters-are-taking-in-pets/2014/03/26/cbadfc16-b4ac-11e3-bab2-b9602293021d_story.html