Animal Abuse And Family Abuse Go Hand In Hand?

I came across a site called the Linkage Project today and did it take me by surprise. I was totally unaware that that when you see an animal being abused that’s it’s a clear sign that there is someone either suffering or being abused in that family.
Another article from the site said that there was a link with animal abuse and the battering of women and child sexual abuse. Now that really took me by surprise, who would have thought that.

The Linkage Project is holding a National Town Meeting.

Read below

A National Town Meeting on Advancing Public Policy and
Community Coalitions
Holiday Inn By the Bay - Portland, Maine
June 8-9, 2008
Please join us by the sea for a unique two-day conference in scenic Portland, Maine.
The National Town Meeting is so-called because it provides an opportunity to gather as like-minded professionals who want to be part of a national community to advance The Link®. Whether you are part of a regional or state coalition to address the connection between violence to people and violence to animals, a professional who is concerned about this issue and wants practice and policy changes, or someone who simply wants to come and learn more about building multidisciplinary coalitions and sustaining the Link effort, this National
Town Meeting is for you. The Town Meeting builds on a New England tradition of the community gathering to hear from experts and to provide feedback to those experts based on your own experience about what’needed to build strong coalitions, change policy or influence practice. At the end of the two-day National Town Meeting, a group of leaders/experts from national organizations will meet to use your feedback to help develop plans for their respective organizations, both individually and collectively.

Why Maine? The Linkage Project, a statewide multidisciplinary coalition, has achieved great success in strengthening Maine’s community response to human violence and animal cruelty, helping to pass crossreporting and pets-in-protection-order legislation and much more. Along with the American Humane Association and the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust, The Linkage Project is hosting this national interactive conference specifically designed to advance public policy and share experiences in community coalition building.


Noted speakers include:

Phil Arkow, Interim Director, Human-Animal Bond, American Humane Association, and
Chair, Animal Abuse & Family Violence Prevention Project, The Latham Foundation
Frank Ascione, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Utah State University, and Adjunct Advisor to
American Humane on The Link
Barbara Boat, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati
Howard Davidson, J.D., Director, American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law
Mark Kumpf, C.A.W.A., President, National Animal Control Association
Randall Lockwood, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Anti-Cruelty Initiatives and Legislative Services,
The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
Lila Miller, D.V.M., Vice President, ASPCA Veterinary Outreach
Gary Patronek, V.M.D., Ph.D., Director of Animal Welfare and Protection, Animal Rescue League of Boston
Allie Phillips, J.D., Director of Public Policy, American Humane Association
Ken Shapiro, Ph.D., Executive Director, Animals and Society Institute
Bernie Unti, Ph.D., Senior Policy Advisor, Special Assistant to the CEO, The Humane Society of the United States

Read the full details here.