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Survivors of domestic violence don’t want to abandon their pets while in crisis so the BC SPCA is launching a program in the Okanagan and Shuswap to help.

The Safekeepers program is coming to Kelowna, Vernon and Salmon Arm area. The program organizes volunteers to foster pets belonging to survivors of domestic violence so that looking after their pets isn’t a hindrance as they leave an abusive situation.

Research by the National Domestic Violence Hotline shows that 97 per cent of domestic violence survivors said that keeping their pets is a factor when it comes to finding a way out of an abusive relationship, 48 per cent fear their abuser would harm or kill their pet and 29 per cent said their abuser has already hurt their pet, according to a BC SPCA media release.

“When one form of violence is present in the home, then it's more likely that other types of violence would coexist in that home as well. So for example, if you have domestic violence in the home, you are more likely to see violence against elderly folks or children or animals, and that's the same for all of them. So if you are seeing, like animal abuse in a home, it's likely that this can probably leech into other areas of family,” Diane Waters with the SPCA told iNFOnews.ca.

The program has already been effective in the Lower Mainland. It has helped 35 people with more than 1,300 nights of care for their pets.

Waters said the program will start in the Okanagan as soon as the SPCA has 10 volunteers ready to shelter a pet for up to six months.

“The best part by far is when people are able to come and be reunited with their pets. At the end of the fostering program, be it a three-week stay or a full six-month term with us, when the clients pick their pets up and they send us a text message or an email saying that they're all settled and safe at home now. They're thankful that they can keep their pet because their pet is their whole world or their whole family, and it's just really valuable, and we feel very grateful to be able to assist in this process,” she said.

The SPCA is finalizing details with a domestic violence support organization in the Okanagan to make sure all the systems are in place so that people can start to use the program in Vernon and Kelowna.

“This is a way to be involved in a community and to help people in your community and animals in your community at the same time, and that the human-animal bond for folks is really powerful, and it's very healing,” she said. 

Click here to find out how to volunteer to foster animals with the Safekeepers program.

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