New Zealand research shows that many victims of domestic violence avoid leaving their abuser, or delay leaving, to protect animals from threats made against them.
We would support moves to both more clearly define ‘coercive control’ and to include it in the legal definition of domestic violence to better protect animals and people from domestic violence.

An amendment to the Domestic Violence Act 1995 is required to explicitly allow protection orders to include the protection of animals.

Read more here: http://www.nzva.org.nz/sites/default/files/domain-0/Family_violence_laws_submission_web.pdf