In addition to being the sheriff of Racine County, I am also a credentialed Wisconsin Humane Officer, and a past member of the Women's Resource Center of Racine Board of Directors. With this background and perspective, I will address a component of domestic violence that is probably seldom thought of by most people, but which has a significant impact on the decisions made by many victims of domestic abuse and violence.

Domestic abuse is about control. The abuser will employ a variety of tactics to maintain this power and control, including emotional and verbal abuse, isolating the victim(s) from family and friends, threats and intimidation, and physical violence. An abuser will latch on to any lever that is available in order to maintain control, and frequently that lever is the family pet. Teri Jendusa-Nicolai, the Wind Lake woman who was abducted, beaten and left for dead in a storage locker by her abusive ex-husband in 2004, reports that threats against the family pets was a part of his controlling behavior.

This is not a trivial point. Crisis centers are not equipped to deal with pets, and very few do. Three separate studies from the late '90s documented that from "18 percent to 40 percent of victims seeking shelter at a crisis center reported that concern for the welfare of their pet prevented them from seeking shelter sooner," sometimes for months (Ascione, 2000). There probably is no way to know the true number of domestic abuse victims who never leave their abuser because of concern for their pets.

For many victims, the relationship with the pet dog or cat is their closest positive relationship. This is due to the abuser's efforts to isolate the victim from human interactions other than those involving the abuser.

The Women's Resource Center of Racine is aware of the dilemma that safety concerns for pets can create for abuse victims. As a result, WRC will work with Countryside Humane Society to place into foster care the pets of abuse victims who need to go into shelter. The process is simple: When a woman makes the call to WRC seeking shelter, she tells the WRC staff that she has a pet or pets that need to be sheltered, too. The WRC staff will contact Countryside, who will in turn make arrangements with one of their approved foster providers to care for the animal. The pets are not being surrendered; the victim remains the legal owner. These arrangements are confidential between the victim and WRC. Let me emphasize that the initial call for help is made to WRC, not Countryside; WRC will make all of the follow-up calls to realize a successful shelter for the pet or pets. The crisis number for WRC is (262) 633-3233, and the office number is

(262) 633-3274.

Although the welfare of animals and pets is important to most of us, the welfare and safety of human beings is still paramount. That is the underlying message here: We want victims of abuse to take the steps that are necessary to remove themselves from the control of their abuser, unconstrained by fears that may include fear for the safety of a beloved animal companion. It often requires great courage to leave an abusive relationship; the Women's Resource Center stands by ready to help.