Success Story

Collecting and analyzing animal cruelty data is critical to the development of effective interventions and prevention strategies. To that end, AWI has developed a new resource to provide researchers, policymakers, law enforcement, and advocates with readily accessible animal cruelty data from across the country, allowing them to delve deeper into the criminal patterns associated with animal cruelty.

AWI’s Center for the Study of NIBRS Animal Cruelty Data provides this through a condensed version of the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) database, which is used by law enforcement agencies to submit crime data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

A comprehensive assessment of animal cruelty data is invaluable, not only to better protect animals, but also because animal cruelty is often linked to interpersonal violence. In households where animals are abused, domestic violence, child abuse, and elder abuse also frequently occur.

AWI’s Safe Havens for Pets program features the only nationwide directory of sheltering services for pets of domestic violence survivors to help both humans and animals reach safety together. AWI recently identified communities in North Dakota and Mississippi as among those most lacking in sufficient resources for domestic violence survivors with pets, and we awarded  two grants so that organizations in those areas can coordinate expanded services.