WALKER, Mich. (WOOD) — U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., visited the Humane Society of West Michigan in Walker Friday, calling for funding to be reauthorized for the Pet and Women Safety Act.
The bipartisan PAWS Act was originally passed in 2018 and gives funding to organizations that help house domestic violence survivors and their pets.
“If you’re the victim of domestic violence and you’re seeking to leave that relationship and go to a shelter, you oftentimes do not want to leave if you have an animal left back at the house. In fact, we find that abusers will use that pet as a weapon against the woman, will harm that pet, threaten that pet,” Peters said. “Right now, we’re looking to fund this program for the next five years with about $3 million that can be used by shelters across the country.”
Tania Jaczkowski, the executive director of the Humane Society of West Michigan, says it is a problem they see often.
“I would say on average, we’re seeing upwards of 20 calls a week this program,” Jaczkowski said. “And I would say the majority of them — obviously, we see some that are due to unhoused individuals, but I would say a lot of them we’re hearing of domestic violence survivors.”