Bloodless Coup

Animals as pawns in abusive relationships

The New York Times has a story about a new law that includes a family's animals in protection from abuse orders.

"It's the dynamic of preying on the love and affection that women often have for the animals in their lives, who may be their only source of solace, their only source of unconditional love."

I'm pleasantly surprised that the connection between using animals for manipulation and abusive relationships (in addition to the connection between animal abuse and human abuse) is being recognized. From personal experience, and from talking to others who have also had their animals been threatened as a proxy - or had someone threaten to or actually "petnap" one's furry companions - this is probably more common than we realize.