19.08.25
At Naturewatch Foundation, our ‘Protect Animals. Protect People’ campaign is built on a simple but often overlooked truth: domestic abuse affects every member of a household, human and non-human alike.
Recently, I had the privilege of speaking with the Empowering Men Initiative CIC, a Yorkshire-based organisation doing vital work to raise awareness of the challenges male survivors face when escaping abuse. They shared with me the story of Priest, a beautiful Weimaraner who had to be separated from his owner when the man fled an abusive relationship.
Though Priest was later rehomed safely, his owner lost not just a pet, but a source of emotional support, security, and connection, a cruel cost too many survivors pay in silence.
According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), around one in three victims of domestic abuse in England and Wales is male. That equates to over 700,000 men each year. When animals are involved, the situation becomes even more complex.
A Dogs Trust Freedom Project report found that 49% of male survivors delayed leaving an abusive home because they couldn’t take their pet with them, or feared what would happen if they did.
Why This Matters
At crime scenes involving domestic abuse, all responders, police, housing providers, healthcare staff must understand:
- Anyone can be a victim.
- Anyone can be a perpetrator.
- Abuse is not always visible, and pets are often used as leverage in coercive control.
That’s why we continue to call for mandatory training for frontline professionals on the link between animal abuse and domestic violence. We need safeguarding systems that ask the right questions, recognise red flags, and protect everyone involved, human and animal.
What You Can Do
- Support inclusive services for all survivors, regardless of gender.
- Include pets in domestic abuse risk assessments (e.g. MARAC, DASH).
- Call for funding of pet fostering schemes for survivors fleeing abuse.
No survivor should have to choose between safety and their companion animal. We can do better. Protect Animals. Protect People.
Empowering Men Initiative CIC shared their story, below,
Breaking the Silence on Male Survivors and the Animals They Lose
At Empowering Men Initiative CIC, we stand beside men who have experienced domestic abuse. Not just as professionals, but as people who have walked that road ourselves. And while physical and emotional abuse are tragically well known, there is another quieter form of pain that is too often overlooked, the loss of a beloved pet through coercive control.
For many survivors, pets are more than animals. They are comfort, loyalty, protection and sometimes the only source of unconditional love in a world that’s become terrifying and unsafe. Abusers know this. That’s why they use pets to control, to threaten, to punish and the damage runs deep.
This isn’t just something we hear from others it’s something we’ve lived. Our CEO, a survivor himself, lost his Weimaraner, Priest during his most difficult chapter.
He says, “Other than my son, who I did get back after 10 weeks. Priest was the next biggest.
That wasn’t just a dog. That was family. That was his peace, his reason to keep going when everything else had been taken. Having to let him go under the shadow of abuse left a scar no one could see, but one that cut just as deep.
Male survivors are so often erased from the conversation. Society doesn’t expect men to hurt or to grieve or to be vulnerable. But they do! They lose their homes, their safety, their children and yes, their animals too.
This is why campaigns like ‘Protect Animals. Protect People.’ matter. Because abuse isn’t about gender, it’s about power. Healing isn’t about blame, it’s about truth.
We believe in a future where all survivors are seen, heard, and supported. Where no one feels ashamed for grieving a dog like family and where losing a pet doesn’t mean losing hope. Because love and loss looks the same in every heart.
For more information on our ‘Protect Animals. Protect People.’ campaign please visit our website.
