C.A.R.E.4Paws Creating Pet Refuge for Domestic Violence Victims

When someone needs to escape an abusive living situation, their four-legged friends can inadvertently hold them back. 

That’s why C.A.R.E.4Paws, which offers resources for Santa Barbara County’s pet families in need, is fundraising to provide free, temporary shelter for animals from broken homes.

Isabelle Gullö, the organization’s cofounder and executive director, said that this new pet refuge would eliminate “the fear of leaving a beloved animal behind,” which often acts as a barrier to safety for victims of domestic violence.

It will be run as part of their Safe Haven program, which provides anonymous foster care or boarding for pets from Central Coast families exposed to domestic violence. 

The pet refuge would be a confidential, temporary boarding facility for pets that would ensure people can leave a domestic violence situation — or navigate other kinds of instability, such as deportation, hospitalization, military deployment, or displacement from disasters — without having to worry about the well-being of their furry companions. 

The location is not public to protect pets and their owners, but will include 10 new indoor/outdoor kennels for dogs and a 40,000-square-foot-outdoor space for active pups, as well as a separate facility for cats with homelike rooms to “promote normalcy and peace.” Pets will have access to vet services, grooming, enrichment, and training during their stay, Gullö said. She hopes to open the refuge by the end of the year or early next.

She emphasized that it’s not meant to be a permanent solution: The ultimate goal is reunification once the family is safe. 

“We want to make sure it’s as much of a home environment as we can create,” Gullö said. “We ultimately want to keep pets with their families but provide a safe, warm experience for animals while they’re in our care until the family is safe and back on their feet.”

It’s especially important now, she noted, with many shelters being overcrowded and foster placements and boarding options being scarce. 

“Many survivors delay seeking help, return to their abuser or avoid seeking assistance altogether because they fear for their pets’ safety,” according to C.A.R.E.4Paws’s Safe Haven manager, Julia Black. 

She said that, according to data from Humane World for Animals, “This fear is often well-founded, as 71 percent of survivors entering domestic violence shelters report that their abuser had harmed, threatened, tortured or killed their pets.”

She added that return rates to abusive partners are significantly lower when survivors can keep their animals. C.A.R.E.4Paws works with partners such as Domestic Violence Solutions for Santa Barbara County (DVS) to make sure survivors can escape a violent situation with their pets. 

Tina Ballue, DVS’s director of development, said in a statement that “healing begins with safety — and for many survivors, that includes their pets.”

“C.A.R.E.4Paws’ Safe Haven program and the Pet Refuge are compassionate and critical resources that ensure no one has to choose between escaping violence and protecting a beloved companion. We’re proud to stand with C.A.R.E.4Paws in keeping families — human and animal — together through life’s most difficult transitions.”

To donate, visit care4paws.org/donate. Survivors seeking support can contact C.A.R.E.4Paws at (805) 335-7524 or safehaven@care4paws.org. Anyone in immediate danger should call 9-1-1.