Animal abuse is a warning sign for other forms of abuse. If you see or suspect animal abuse, finding a safe way to intervene may help to protect more than the animal alone.
Preventing Animal Abuse
Preventing animal abuse begins with education, community support, and early positive experiences. Community-led discussions that highlight the importance of animals and their care—especially those that include Indigenous teachings and traditional ways of being—can help build respect and empathy toward animals. Encouraging positive interactions with animals from a young age fosters understanding and compassion, reducing the risk of future abuse. It’s also essential to recognize that intergenerational cycles of trauma and violence can increase the likelihood of abuse. By providing support, education, and counseling to both victims and those at risk of causing harm, we create opportunities to break these harmful patterns and build a more compassionate, respectful relationship with animals and one another.
Intervention
If intervention is required, must be done safely. Intervening in cases of abuse is a potentially dangerous situation, so it is ideal to have another person available to help you who has received training in how to intervene safely.
Bystander intervention strategies may include:
- Distracting an abuser’s attention to allow the victim to escape
- Directly confronting a person their behavior, for example saying “That’s not okay” (a person committing abusive acts may not understand what they are doing is wrong or why that is the case. The behaviour is wrong, but both the perpetrator and the victim need to be treated with care.)
- Delegating one of these tasks to someone whilst contacting emergency services
- Delaying intervention and offering support afterwards is okay if your safety is at risk.
Contacting animal protective services (APS) or the RCMP is a safe means of intervention. APS and the RCMP coordinate to provide education whilst protecting the animal.
Conclusion
The link between animal and other forms of abuse is well documented. Trauma and experiences leading to violence towards animals can progress to violence towards people; animal abuse may also be used to coerce other victims. One way or another, animal abuse impacts the health of a community and if you suspect someone of abusing an animal, it is important to intervene in a way that is safe.
Additional Resources:
For more information and further resources relating to education on animal welfare, please visit: https://nationallinkcoalition.org