Various groups now look after pets while their owners flee domestic abuse or stay in refuges.

In homes where there is violence and abuse, pets are often threatened, injured or killed by violent men to maintain control over their partners and children.

In a survey of 50 women pet owners living in refuges because of domestic violence, 2 out of 3 said their abuser had threatened to harm their pets; 38 per cent said that he had actually harmed them and a massive 94 per cent said if there had been a pet fostering service it would have made it easier for them and their children to escape the violence.