Service Learning

Hopeful Tails Animal Rescue is a non-profit animal shelter. They bring in dogs that have been abandoned, abused or neglected as well as other rescues. A quote on their website says “saving one dog will not save the world but surely, for that one dog the world will change forever” (http://www.hopefultailsanimalrescue.org/index.html). I helped at the shelter on April 28^th and 30^th for 2 ½ hours each day. The shelter is located in Joliet off of 52 on Republic Avenue.

I didn’t know anybody there, but everyone was very kind and welcoming. It was mostly just other volunteers; some were newer and some people had been volunteering there for a while. While I was there I just did basic tasks like putting food into bowls for the dogs and picking up after they went to the bathroom. People who had been volunteering for longer got to take the dogs outside and socialize them. After a puppy was stolen (but then returned) in February, the shelter is very careful with who they let do certain tasks. They want to make sure their animals are as safe as possible.

Most of my interactions were made up of small-talk. I introduced myself to other volunteers and we discussed why we were there, where I go to school, and made small-talk about the animals. Since my service was done for animals and not people, I spent of my time interacting with dogs. As an animal lover, it is great to be able to help out dogs that need it. I couldn’t pick a favorite interaction because I loved spending time with all the dogs.  

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience at Hopeful Tails Animal Rescue. I have had 5 rescue dogs throughout my life and they have all been remarkable pets. Luckily, I had gotten a puppy 2 weeks before I volunteered because otherwise I would have been dying to adopt all of the dogs they had. I will definitely volunteer more at this shelter and maybe others in the future. It was a very positive experience and it felt great to help animals in need.

Connecting Sources

“Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty: Untangling the Web of Abuse”

 Catherine Faver’s article “Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty: Untangling the Web of Abuse” is most similar to Sarah Degue’s article “Is Animal Cruelty a ‘Red Flag’ for Family Violence?” Both of these articles focus on how domestic violence can be found by looking at cases of animal abuse. Sarah Degue cites one of Catherine Faver’s other works in her article. Clifton P. Flynn also uses a couple of Catherine Faver’s writings in his article “Examining the links between animal abuse and human violence.” Degue supports Faver’s claim that batterers abuse animal to show dominance over their victims. Both Degue and Faver also mention Clifton P. Flynn’s article “Why family professionals can no longer ignore violence toward animals.” While I am not using this article, I am using one of Flynn’s works in which he cites an article by Faver. Catherine Faver’s article will help the reader better understand the other sources because it covers pretty much all the same aspects of the other articles in one way or another. It is also very clearly written which helps with the flow of reading the information. Since so many of my sources do overlap, writing about them fluently shouldn’t be too difficult. For articles that mention the same study, I can compare what each author said about it.

Paraphrasing Assignment

Cara Tumino

Faver, Catherine A. “Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty: Untangling the Web of Abuse.” Journal of Social Work Education 39.2 (2003): 237-253. Web. 22 March 2015.

“…[A]lthough the social work literature has recognized the connections between domestic violence and child abuse, the role of animals in family violence has been ignored” (Faver 237).

Paraphrase 1: It has been discovered that different types of human abuse in the household can be related, but the role animal abuse plays in family violence does not receive as much attention as it should (Faver 237). 

Paraphrase 2: Animal abuse is a major factor in the relationship between domestic violence and child abuse, but the large role it plays often gets overlooked (Faver 237).

Paraphrase 3: The link between child abuse and domestic violence is clear, but sometimes the act of animal abuse in relation to those is not acknowledged (Faver 237).

“Finally, there is growing evidence…that batterers use threats and actual harm to family pets as a means of controlling and coercing women. This evidence also demonstrates that concern for the safety of pets is a significant barrier to women leaving abusive relationships” (Faver 238).

Paraphrase 1: Those who commit acts of domestic violence use household pets to keep their partner in the relationship by making them fear the safety of their pet if they leave (Faver 238). 

Paraphrase 2: In order to keep their partner in the relationship and under their control, abusers often threaten to or actually harm their pets (Faver 238). 

Paraphrase 3: Some abusers harm or threaten to harm family pets to show authority over their partner so they will stay in the abusive relationship.

Degue, Sarah. “Is Animal Cruelty a ‘Red Flag’ for Family Violence?” Sage Journals 24.6 (2009): 1036-1056. Web. 27 March 2015. 

“Notably, the strongest predictors of threats toward pets in this study were the Minor Physical Violence and Verbal Aggression subscales of the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS), whereas the strongest predictor of actual harm or killing of animals by a partner was the Severe Physical Violence subscale of the CTS” (Degue 1039).

Paraphrase 1: People who are less physically and verbally violent toward their partner are more likely to threaten their pets and people who are more violent are more likely to actually harm their pet (Degue 1039).

Paraphrase 2: Abusers who are only slightly violent typically only threaten to harm pets, whereas people who are majorly abusive are more likely to cause harm to or even injure their pets (Degue 1039).

Paraphrase 3: People on the Minor Physical Violence side of the Conflict Tactics scale are less likely to bring real harm to their pets than those on the Severe Physical Violence side of the scale (Degue 1039).

“Animal abuse was defined as including the neglect of (e.g., denial of food, water, or medical treatment; excessive confinement, allowing the animal to live in filth) or intentional infliction of physical pain or injury (e.g., beating, shooting, drowning; making an animal fight; engaging in sexual acts with an animal) on any household pet or wild animal” (Degue 1043-44).

Paraphrase 1: According to Sarah Degue, animal abuse includes insufficient food and water and causing any sort of suffering or pain to an animal (1043-44). 

Paraphrase 2: Animal abuse can be defined as being neglectful or purposely harming either a wild animal or a pet (Degue 1043-44).

Paraphrase 3: Any sort of physical harm, neglect, or discomfort inflicted on any type of animal is considered animal abuse (Degue 1043-44).

            Domestic violence and child abuse have a clear link and if one is present in a family, the other is usually there, too. Animal abuse is a major factor in the relationship between domestic violence and child abuse, but the large role it plays often gets overlooked (Faver 237). As with the different kinds of abuse on humans, there are also several types of animal abuse. According to Sarah Degue’s journal “Is Animal Cruelty a ‘Red Flag’ for Family Violence?” animal abuse is “…defined as including the neglect of (e.g., denial of food, water, or medical treatment; excessive confinement, allowing the animal to live in filth) or intentional infliction of physical pain or injury (e.g., beating, shooting, drowning; making an animal fight; engaging in sexual acts with an animal) on any household pet or wild animal” (1043-44).

Annotated Bibliography

Cara Tumino

Annotated Bibliography

Dr. Walts

27 March 2015

Annotated Bibliography

Degue, Sarah. “Is Animal Cruelty a ‘Red Flag’ for Family Violence?” Sage Journals 24.6 (2009): 1036-1056. Web. 27 March 2015.

http://jiv.sagepub.com.ezproxy.lewisu.edu/content/24/6/1036.full.pdf+html

Summary: In Sarah Degue’s article “Is Animal Cruelty a ‘Red Flag’ for Family Violence?” she takes on the topic in a legal way. She looks at how finding animals that are abused can lead to the discovery of domestically violent people. She also focuses on the links between child abuse and animal abuse through a study with college students who experienced abuse as children. 

Evaluation: Sarah Degue comes from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and contributor David DiLillo comes from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Degue has a Ph. D. and is a behavioral scientist at the Division of Violence Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Reflection: This article provides a third viewpoint for my paper. Degue has a legal viewpoint which I can compare to the animal rights and sociological views of other articles. I like how instead of just relating animal abuse and domestic violence, she says that seeing an abused animal can find someone who is abusing people.

"Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty." ASPCA. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.

https://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/report-animal-cruelty/domestic-violence-and-animal-cruelty

Summary: In the ASPCA’s article “Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty,” they provide several statistics relating the two topics in the article’s title. It tells readers why abusers abuse and what people can do about it.

Evaluation: Although it is not a long article and doesn’t have specific authors, it does come from a credible source. The ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is a non-profit organization and are just providing the facts. The ASPCA is well known in the field of animal rights and gives helpful information about animal abuse.

Reflection: This article has basic information, but it is crucial for my paper. It addresses how issues brought up in other articles can be solved. Plus it’s a source most people have heard of, so readers will know it’s credible.

Faver, Catherine A. “Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty: Untangling the Web of Abuse.” Journal of Social Work Education 39.2 (2003): 237-253. Web. 22 March 2015.

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lewisu.edu/stable/23044063?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Summary: In Catherine Faver’s article “Domestic Violence and Animal Cruelty: Untangling the Web of Abuse,” she writes about how domestic violence and animal cruelty are related. She views the subject from a sociological point of view. She discusses that people who are domestically violent are more likely to abuse their household pets. They do this to show power and to intimidate those that they are trying to control.

Evaluation: The Journal of Social Work Education is professional piece of work. Catherine Faver sounds very knowledgeable in her writing and everything in her article fits and makes sense. She is a professor at University of Texas-Pan American in Sociology so she has adequate education in the subject area.

Reflection: After reading this article, I not only had a bunch of information for my paper, but I also learned several things I didn’t know. This will probably be my most useful source because it has so much relevant information. It will be interesting to see how her sociological view of animal abuse and domestic violence compares with an animal activist’s view.

Flynn, Clifton P. “Examining the links between animal abuse and human violence.” Crime, Law and Social Change 55.5 (2011): 453-468. Web. 27 March 2015.

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.lewisu.edu/docview/871005272?pq-origsite=summon

Summary: This article is interesting because it discusses the progression of how a person goes from being an animal abuser to a human abuser. Some people are against the idea that abuse is growing habit and this article looks at both sides of the argument.

Evaluation: Dr. Clifton P. Flynn is a professor of sociology at the University of South Carolina Upstate. Being a professor in the subject of sociology plays to Flynn’s advantage that he knows what he is talking about.

Reflection: I really like how this article compares two sides of an argument about the progression of abuse. I’d like to see how this will work with my other articles and see what ideas are more supported than others.

 

 

Pagani, Camilla. “Investigating Animal Abuse: Some Theoretical and Methodological Issues.” Anthrazoos 23.3 (2010): 259-276. Web. 20 March 2015.

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lewisu.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=7312c47d-cb59-4f97-83b3-dacfaceaad32%40sessionmgr115&vid=3&hid=116

Summary: In Camilla Pagani’s article “Investigating Animal Abuse: Some Theoretical and Methodological Issues,” she and her peers give a universal definition for animal abuse and suggest the idea that peoples’ culture affects the way they treat animals. They also discuss the methods in which animal abuse is investigated.

Evaluation: Camilla Pagani is from the Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies in Rome, Italy where she is on the National Research Council. Contributor Frank Ascione is from the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver. This article is peer reviewed and seems to be a great source of information.

Reflection: This article will be useful in my paper because it gives an actual definition of what animal abuse is. I like how this article looks at the sociological side and the animal lover side of animal abuse and how it is related to domestic violence.