Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 31 May 2018
Domestic violence shelter being custom-built to include pets

By JENNIFER PELTZ tional thinking what that
Associated Press would have been like for
NEW YORK (AP) — From kids who had already been
easy-to-clean floors to a through a lot.
grooming room to a color "The way she just looks and
palette toned for dog and interacts with us and makes
cat eyes, a building rising in us feel so comforted and
New York is clearly a place cared for, that was some-
for pets. thing that would not be
But it's not an animal hos- able to be replaced, and
pital or a doggy daycare. we needed it so much,"
Rather, it's what organizers says Dawson, 32. "When
say is the nation's first large she was reunited with us,
domestic violence shel- it really did bring that light
ter custom-built for victims back into our situation."
to keep their pets in their URI's facilities have wel-
apartments. comed 118 animals in four
Expected to open in Oc- years — cats, dogs, turtles,
tober and house up to 100 birds, fish, a guinea pig and
people, it builds on a grow- a bearded dragon.
ing roster of shelters that The new seven-story,
accommodate animals so 30-apartment shelter will
their owners won't hesitate have a shared pet-groom-
to leave abusive homes. ing room and a secluded
Organizers say it's the first dog park, so residents fear-
of its size specifically de- ful of abusers finding them
signed for every apartment don't have to leave to walk
to house people with pets. dogs.
"By doing so from the Windows won't open wide
ground up, with not only enough for cats to get out,
humans in mind but pets but there may be shelves
in mind, it's going to allow so felines can look outside.
for a fuller recovery for pets Flooring won't be too slip-
and the entire family," says pery or too sticky for paws.
Dr. Kurt Venator, chief vet- Paint won't be bright white,
erinary officer of Nestle Pu- as some manmade white
rina PetCare Co., which is materials may appear fluo-
contributing supplies and In this March 18, 2014 file photo, a pet Chihuahua plays outside in a dog run at the first pet-friendly rescent to cats and dogs,
expertise to the $20 million domestic violence shelter in New York. Venator said.
project. Associated Press Dawson, meanwhile,
The Urban Resource Insti- moved her family into its
tute, a shelter operator, fear their abusers will re- tute CEO Nathaniel Fields. She had savings and own apartment after six
is running the facility, fi- taliate by harming the ani- (Some of them do help ar- a housing voucher but months in shelter. She's
nanced through private mals. range foster care.) couldn't find an apartment working as a ride-hailing
donations and some gov- The number of pet-friendly URI has opened 52 pet- and eventually moved with service driver, her kids are in
ernment support. domestic violence shel- friendly apartments around her kids into a no-pets shel- middle school, and Coco is
Studies have documented ters nationwide has grown New York City in the last ter. An agency agreed to doing well.
links between domestic from four in 2008 to dozens four years but still got about board Coco for 30 days; "When life happens and it
violence and animal cru- in recent years. But about 350 more requests than it after that, the family would comes at you really hard,
elty and have noted some 97 percent of shelters still could fulfill. have to consider giving her having a pet," she says, "re-
victims' reluctance to leave don't accept pets, accord- Advocates for pet-friendly up. Dawson still gets emo- ally does help."q
without their pets. Some ing to Urban Resource Insti- shelters have faced ques-
tions about whether ac-
commodating animals si-
phons focus and resources
from abused people, or
how people who fear for
their lives can think about
their pets.
But for many victims, Fields
says, "it's not an either-or."
Hope Dawson adopted
her dog, Coco, to cheer
up her two children after
they awoke to sounds of
thrown objects crashing
and then saw police lead
This undated photo, provided by Urban Resource Institute, shows her boyfriend away from This undated photo, provided by Urban Resource Institute, shows
renderings for the first domestic violence shelter custom-built to their Houston home in De- renderings for the first domestic violence shelter custom-built to
accommodate pets, which advocates say is a factor in some cember 2015. She soon de- accommodate pets, which advocates say is a factor in some
victims' decisions to leave their abusers. cided to move to New York victims' decisions to leave their abusers.
Associated Press to get away from him. Associated Press