Three years ago, on 7th June 2023, we launched our Protect Animals. Protect People. Campaign at Hogarth’s House. It was a fitting place to begin the journey. More than 270 years earlier, William Hogarth’s engravings highlighted a connection that the campaign continues to highlight today: cruelty towards animals is often linked to violence towards people.
When we launched the campaign, awareness of this link was growing, but recognition within safeguarding, policing and wider public policy were limited. There was no consistent approach to recognising animal abuse as a potential indicator of domestic abuse, coercive control, child abuse or wider offending.
Today, just three years later, the landscape has changed significantly.
Most recently, a meeting at Portcullis House in Westminster brought together a powerful coalition of MPs, government officials, animal welfare organisations, safeguarding specialists and campaigners to discuss Holly’s Law and the role animals can play within safeguarding and violence protection.
For those unfamiliar with Holly’s Law and the campaign behind is, you can read more about it here.
The fact that these conversations are now taking place at the highest levels of government demonstrates just how far the movement has come in a relatively short period of time.
Three Years of Progress
Since launching our campaign, we have:
- Trained more than 2,000 professionals across policing, safeguarding, animal welfare and frontline services
- Held five parliamentary events focused on the link between animal abuse and domestic abuse
- Encouraged every UK police force, alongside major animal welfare charities, to update their external communications around this issue
- Helped shape investigation policy where domestic abuse cases involve animals
- Appeared on national television and across major news outlets, magazines and professional publications
- Been nominated in the Campaign of the Year category at the 2026 Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls Awards
Influencing Policy
We have also helped secure changes within the Crime and Policing Act 2026 that strengthen protections for both animals and children experiencing abuse.
These achievements reflect the efforts of countless professionals, organisations, survivors, campaigners and policymakers who recognise that violence rarely exists in isolation.
Animal abuse is not simply an animal welfare issue. It can be a safeguarding concern, a warning sign, and part of a wider pattern of harm. Recognising those connections creates opportunities to intervene earlier, share information more effectively and better protect both people and animals.
A Growing Movement
Whilst there is no doubt there is more work to be done, three years on from our launch at Hogarth’s House, Protect Animals. Protect People. has become more than a campaign. It has become a growing movement helping to change the way animal welfare and human safeguarding are understood across the UK.
The progress made so far shows what can happen when people come together around a simple idea: protecting animals helps protect people too.
