Why even do
Paws Together™
In 2023 when we heard about the need of victims of domestic violence, we started doing our own research and the statistics alone, like how over 40% of women experience some type of domestic abuse, how over 50% of them will stay in this situation due to a pet, how over 25% actually return to this situation due to concern over a pet, how 70% of pets in a situation like this are also abused and finally how less than 20% of shelters allow pets just blew us away.
How could we not help???
So, we hit the ground running with total commitment to this cause. We spread awareness of this problem and the facts always surprised people because it was something most never thought about. We tried to start making contacts with those that may be a way into allowing us to help, and although we always got positive feedback and interest, these pathways never seemed to lead anywhere.
But we kept trying!
We finally were able to connect with a local women’s domestic violence shelter, Artemis House, which is just one component of Shelter House Inc., and they were attempting to start a pet fostering program to help their clients. We jumped at the opportunity to assist them!
We are now actively collaborating with Artemis House Regions 1 and 3 and staff from Shelter House Inc. to set up their very own pet fostering program! But as is usually the case, it is much harder than it appears. The procedures in place to protect the clients also need to apply to their pets, but we are confident we can do this.
