Sunny, Kendra Coulter's German shepherd.Kendra Coulter
Kendra Coulter is a professor in management and organizational studies at Western University’s Huron University College, a fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, and the author of Defending Animals: Finding Hope on the Front Lines of Animal Protection.
In 2012, a young female German shepherd dog available for adoption caught my attention. It was the look in her eyes, in particular: They were soulful, yet uncertain. I learned from the rescuers that she had been badly abused. She had been beaten and deprived of both food and water; she had not been taken for walks or allowed to play with toys. When my spouse and I went to meet her, she instantly clung onto our other rescue dog, Buster, and cried like she was in a state of primal terror when we left at the end of the initial visit. Something about us, and Buster’s presence in particular, seemed to make her feel safe.
We adopted her and named her Sunny.
Sunny’s body healed more quickly than her mind. The trauma she experienced left permanent wounds, but she chose to display her fierce loyalty and mighty spirit, a profound demonstration of trust we committed to honouring every day. Her generosity, devotion and decision to embrace a life beyond fear inspired me to initiate a multidimensional process of discovery. I did not know that Sunny’s story would magnify largely unseen facets of people’s and animals’ shared pain.
Sunny, a female German shepherd dog.Kendra Coulter
As an academic researcher, I had been studying the realities and ethics of human-animal work relationships, but I decided to begin analyzing animal protection specifically and in depth. Through years of interviews, field research and job shadowing with cruelty investigators and many other front-line workers, careful observation at conferences and training sessions, and analysis of policies, laws, legal cases, investments and statistics, I have learned more about illegal and perfectly legal animal cruelty than I ever would have dared to imagine.
The bodies of abused animals provide evidence of what was done to them. Forensic veterinarians methodically study animals’ wounds and scars in search of answers. The behaviour of abuse survivors provides other clues. We surmised that Sunny was beaten by a broad-shouldered man with a beard based on her reactions to similar individuals. And her stress responses when people argued loudly also suggested that she was not the only victim.
Many people now know that serial killers and other perpetrators of mass violence may begin by harming animals before expanding to humans. This pattern reveals what is called the human-animal violence link, but the connections are even more widespread and destructive. People and animals are often abused simultaneously in the same home. Animal cruelty and neglect can be a gateway or window that exposes many shapes and shades of suffering.
University of Windsor researchers found that in a sample of Canadian domestic-violence shelters, 89 per cent of women who had pets reported that the abuser had threatened to harm or actually hurt their animal, a pattern not unique to Canada. Many victims delay leaving or stay in abusive relationships out of fear for the safety of their animals. Animals are frequently abused in front of children, and are used as pawns and proxies to control and terrorize human victims; our love for them can be weaponized so that the women stay, come back, or act in particular ways. At the same time, animals can provide life-saving motivation that helps people try to stay alive and get help – to become not only a victim, but a survivor.
Empirical evidence and statistics are crucial for law enforcement, protective-services agencies and gender-based violence organizations, as well as policy makers. The numbers help demonstrate unequivocally that animal protection is not a distraction from people’s safety, but rather directly connected to it.
Within Sunny’s story is another powerful truth. It was the woman in the family who took Sunny to the vet, repeatedly. It was the woman who ultimately surrendered Sunny to the rescue group. By combining this information with Sunny’s behaviour and the facts of the human-animal violence link, I believe the woman was also being abused. She may not have been able to free herself, but she saved Sunny.
It was Sunny’s story that inspired me to spend years not only researching but also writing about animal protection, including a book. The first image inside its pages is a beautiful photo of Sunny. She was always with me as I wrote, living proof of the compassion and solidarity that make animal protection possible and so meaningful.
But this past October, one week after the book’s release – mere hours after the last launch event – we suddenly had to say goodbye to Sunny. She lived to see a major pinnacle of the work she ignited, and then she was gone – almost as if the larger purpose of her time on Earth had been achieved. Sunny will always be the soul of the book and an embodiment of the hope that is cultivated in the diverse landscapes of animal protection. This is not the end of her story, or of the promise of animal protection.
I do not know where the woman whose courage freed Sunny is, or how she is doing; I never will. I hope she is safe and happy. A devastating truth is that many victims of abuse cannot save themselves or their animals, and this struggle – that burden – is not theirs alone. They need us all to keep working and caring, to see and hear them, to treat victims and survivors with dignity while also working to prevent harm before it happens. We are all responsible and connected by threads of vulnerability and strength.
This woman’s unheralded act of bravery and the diligent work of the rescuers made it possible for Sunny to have a life filled with joy: one that inspired me to use my skills and voice in the service of animals and animal defenders. We are linked not only by violence but also by the power of love. And that is immeasurable.