According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, up to 40 percent of domestic violence victims are unable to escape their abusers for fear of what might happen to the pets they’d leave behind.
That’s one part of the reason why the Haven women’s shelter has opened the new Farber Family Pet Center at the organization’s campus in Pontiac. The new center will be able to house up to 30 dogs, cats and pocket-pets such as birds and other small domestic animals.
Residents at the shelter will care for their pets during their stay at Haven. Food and supplies are being donated indefinitely by Premier Pet Supply, according to Amna Osman, president and CEO of Haven.
“This is really a culmination of the kind of one-stop-shop, comprehensive services we dream about for our survivors,” Osman said.
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The center is equipped with five indoor dog-kennels and outdoor dog-runs, a cat-cave with four cat cages, a shower area, an indoor play area and a fenced-in outdoor play area.
The Farber Family Foundation donated $150,000 for the $200,000 project, which has been in the works for the past two-years, while the remainder was donated by additional supporters.
In 2000, Dr. Tracy Thompson, 57 of Southfield, met a volunteer from Haven at a local hospital after being attacked by her ex-husband. She would go on to become a volunteer, and an intern, for the organization, as well as a mental health therapist and reverend.
At the time when she was leaving her abuser, Thompson had a seven-year-old cat named Sable.
“You know, quite honestly, it’s not even a question or decision. Many times, particularly if you are in the throes of being abused, when you’re trying to leave you grab what you can. If you have a child you tell them ‘we’re getting out of here … (Taking my cat with me) was not something I had to sit and think about, it was natural. I think in that moment in my heart, the cat is a member of the family,” Thompson said.
Haven is still selling naming rights for several parts of the shelter, such as the dog-runs and cat condos. Information can be found at haven-oakland.org. Concrete tiles are also for sale. At $250 a piece, patrons can decorate a tile and bring it back to Haven, to be placed into a walkway in spring. More information can be found by calling Hannah Heeber, development manager, at 248-322-3705.
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