ORDER OF PROTECTION

ANIMALS

In Maine, the Governor has signed a bill to include pets in a order of protection in domestic violence cases. Studies have shown that men who abuse their wives will often abuse pets left behind when the wife leaves, as a way to try and get their wives to come back.

They found that 54 percent of the battered women said their abusers had harmed or killed their animals, compared with 5 percent of women in the other group.

Its hoped that other states will follow Maine's example.