When Animal Care Services specialists investigate animal cruelty cases, they sift for clues of other types of aggression.
That instinct kicked in when ACS specialist Joseph Flores pored over a case of a man accused of seriously injuring a 5-year-old schnauzer named Chester.
Last January, Gerald Davison Rodriguez snatched Chester from his wife's arms during an argument at a North Side apartment and slammed him against a bathroom wall and bathtub, authorities said.
A veterinarian examined Chester and determined he was temporarily paralyzed. The veterinarian reported the case to ACS, whose staff worked with San Antonio police to serve Davison, 31, with a warrant.
He was charged with cruelty to animals, a state felony that can bring up to two years in jail.
Davison pleaded no contest and applied for deferred adjudication probation. The penalty phase of his trial is scheduled for Jan. 20.
When Flores interviewed Davison's wife, she said her husband didn't like the dog. He said she took showers before he came home, afraid he would hurt her pet.
“Now we have gone through it enough times we can pick it up,” Flores said. “You start to pick it apart and then realize how it's all together.”
Flores and fellow ACS specialists have had training to recognize red flags of a form of family violence called “the link,” involving combinations of animal cruelty, child abuse, senior abuse and domestic violence.
Increasingly, law enforcement, child and adult protective services and shelters are working together and training responders to identify animal abuse cases that could prevent further acts of violence.
Recent studies show 80 percent of households with family violence also have animal abuse. Interest in the issue has resulted in coalitions across the nation and in 25 countries, advocates said.
Flores and team members Deborah Turner, Audra Houghton and Manuel Flores, said they've investigated cases where young adults, with histories of neglect and domestic violence, have acted out by setting family pets on fire.
Juveniles convicted of animal cruelty in Texas are required to get counseling until they're adults, Houghton said.
“I don't think people realize how widespread it is,” she said, explaining that domestic abusers sometimes use the threat of hurting animals to control their partners.
Animal abuse is often the trigger that a social service agency needs to get involved, said Phil Arkow, one of the founders of the National Link Coalition.
“It's one of those things that are so obvious,” he said. “People don't think to include it in reports or questionnaires; it's a huge problem in the country and underreported.”
Arkow made the connection in the 1980s when he visited a women's shelter in Colorado Springs, Colo. While waiting to speak, he looked through a newsletter with drawings by children, and saw a lot of killed or injured pets.
It was a “light bulb moment,” he said.
“Most people haven't thought of it until someone points it out to them,” he said. “It's a sea change in the way society is coming to respect animals, and part of it is seeing pets as not being property, but as members of the family.”
The issue is a longtime cause of Sallie Scott, chairwoman of the ACS advisory board. The next phase is to shelter family and animals together, she said, noting that about 60 battered women shelters across the country have kennels.
“Animal abuse must be redefined as family violence,” Scott said. “People love to talk about their animals, and sometimes they won't talk about themselves. It's a great way for a counselor to get people talking and find out what's going on in that home.”
Scott said Texas is one of 21 states that let judges include pets in domestic violence protective orders.
“I think it's mainly up to the Legislature and judges on how serious they want to penalize violators,” Scott said. “And the public on how they want to end this violence.”
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