To break the cycle of violence and abuse, we must first understand exactly how it becomes a cycle and why we can’t just fix one part of it without addressing the other. Animal Abuse=Human Abuse and vice versa.

The abuse of animals is a strong indication of current or future domestic violence towards humans. In fact, animal abusers are five times as likely to harm humans, and children from abusive households make up a fifth of perpetrators in domestic animal cruelty cases.

Not only are animal abusers highly likely to abuse humans, but they also use animals as a means of exerting control and power over their human victims. Killing, harming or threatening animal companions is one of the many ways that abusers attempt to manipulate their victims. This tactic serves both as a way to blackmail human victims into silence, and alienate them from the comfort and companionship the animal companion provides.

Animal abuse is now recognized as one of the first visible signs of family violence due to the number of victims entering shelters who report that their abuser hurt, killed or threatened animal companions. The correlation between domestic violence towards humans and companion animals is so strong that domestic animal cruelty investigations often uncover chronic domestic abuse.

We often consider the abuse of humans and nonhuman animals to be entirely separate atrocities, yet evidence suggests this is not the case. However, the abuse of animals and humans are parts of the same root problem.

Animal Abuse = Human Abuse

Why is making the connection important?

As animal advocates, we are often met with the claim that our advocacy for animals is somehow less important because human suffering is a priority. We won’t address the hypocrisy of this claim here. However, by clearly illustrating the connection of how animal abuse also leads to human abuse, this not only counteracts this quick dismissal of animal suffering, but it can also make our message easier for others to relate to from a human rights perspective.

This is the second release of our new series “Animal Abuse = Human Abuse” designed to help expand the reach of our advocacy for animals to new audiences.