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When we talk about domestic abuse, violence against women and girls (often shortened to VAWG), and keeping children safe, animals are too often left out of the conversation.
Yet protecting animals is not a side issue. It is a powerful and proven way to keep people safer too. This belief sits at the heart of the Naturewatch Foundation’s Protect Animals. Protect People campaign.
Why animals matter in safeguarding
In December 2025, the UK Government published two important national strategies:
- Freedom from Violence and Abuse: A Cross-Government Strategy, which focuses on preventing and responding to domestic abuse and violence
- Animal Welfare Strategy for England, which sets out plans to improve how animals are protected and cared for.
For the first time, assisted by our campaigning, both strategies clearly recognise the overlap between animal welfare and human safety, particularly in cases of domestic abuse.
This is a vital step forward. Safeguarding cannot be fully effective if it ignores animals, who are often used to control, threaten, or silence victims.
The Government stated it is committed “delivering the most ambitious animal welfare programme in a generation” while also acknowledging that protecting women and children from violence requires long-term commitment across all parts of government, not just responses after serious harm or tragedy has already occurred.
This progress didn’t happen by accident. Since the launch of our campaign:
- The All-Party Parliamentary Dog Advisory Welfare Group (APDAWG) has opened doors in Westminster
- Together, we have held four parliamentary events since October 2023
- These events were attended by representatives from almost every political party
The challenge now is turning these words into meaningful action. That is where this work begins.
How abuse of animals is used to control people
People who commit domestic abuse frequently harm or threaten animals as part of coercive control.
Pets may be used to:
- Frighten victims
- Punish them for speaking out
- Stop them from leaving
- Force them to stay silent.
Many victim-survivors delay escaping abuse because they fear what will happen to their animals if they leave.
Recognising animals as part of the family, and as part of safeguarding, saves lives.
A new way of thinking about protection
Before working in animal protection, my background was in counterterrorism.
In 2003, the UK Government introduced the CONTEST strategy, a framework designed to coordinate national responses to serious threats. In 2024, the National Police Chiefs’ Council adapted this approach for the national Violence Against Women and Girls strategy.
We have taken that same model and applied it to animal welfare and domestic abuse, using four simple principles:
Protect. Prepare. Prevent. Pursue.
This approach shows clearly how protecting animals strengthens every stage of keeping people safe. It is a model that, if adopted, will help protect both animals and people more effectively.
PROTECT – Removing barriers to safety. Immediate protection saves lives. For many victims, their pets are the barrier that keeps them trapped in abuse. Protection is not complete if animals are left behind.
- Making sure Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) and Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPNs), court orders designed to keep victims safe, can include pets, as supported by the Ruby’s Law campaign
- Training frontline professionals to recognise threats or harm to animals as warning signs of escalating abuse
- Ensuring Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences (MARACs) meetings where agencies work together on high-risk cases, routinely consider risks to pets
- Expanding confidential pet fostering services, so victims can flee without leaving animals behind
- Strengthening microchipping and data protection, to stop perpetrators using pets to track or control victims
PREPARE – Building system readiness. Professionals cannot act on risks they are not trained to recognise. Prepared systems spot danger earlier, before violence escalates.
- Ensuring specialists understand the links between animal abuse, child abuse, and domestic abuse
- Training veterinary professionals to recognise non-accidental injuries to animals as possible safeguarding concerns
- Embedding evidence about animal abuse into policies, training, and workplace support, including Sharon’s Policy, which helps employers support staff experiencing domestic abuse
- Strengthening coordination through MATAC (Multi-Agency Tasking and Coordination) meetings, which bring agencies together to manage high-risk perpetrators
PREVENT – Stopping harm before it starts. Prevention focuses on root causes and harmful attitudes. Preventing cruelty helps prevent future violence.
- Education that promotes respect for animals, people, and the environment together
- Youth and community work that challenges cruelty and reduces isolation
- Stronger online safety measures to address content that normalises violence towards animals
- Using research evidence to identify early warning signs and intervene sooner
- Recognising vets as frontline sentinels, able to spot risks early and trigger safeguarding responses
PURSUE – Holding perpetrators to account. Animal abuse is not “less serious” harm. It is vital intelligence.
- Including serious animal abuse convictions within MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements), which manage the risks posed by the most dangerous offenders
- Expanding Clare’s Law (the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme) to explicitly recognise animal abuse as a sign of coercive control
- Ensuring MARACs and MATACs consistently share animal-related information
- Using evidence of animal harm to strengthen investigations, prosecutions, and safeguarding decisions
Inclusive safeguarding protects everyone
Safeguarding must reflect real life.
While women and girls are disproportionately affected, around 1 in 6 men will experience domestic abuse in their lifetime, and many face barriers to seeking help. Abuse also disproportionately affects people from minoritised communities, disabled people, LGBTQ+ people, migrants, and those with insecure immigration status. Across all these groups, animals are used as tools of control.
Recognising the human–animal bond strengthens equality, diversity, and inclusion by:
- Revealing hidden victims
- Enabling earlier intervention
- Ensuring protection is not limited to narrow ideas of who a “typical” victim is’.
As survivor Samantha Billingham says:
“We now need to see the words in that strategy put into action. The animals and humans experiencing coercive control and domestic abuse deserve that.”
