No Survivor Should Have to Choose Between Safety and Their Pet

Final signature count: 308

308 signatures toward our 30,000 goal

Leaving an abusive home is never simple. For survivors who have a pet, it can feel impossible. Research and frontline advocates consistently identify fear for an animal's safety as one of the most common reasons survivors delay their departure — or go back after leaving. Abusers know this and use it deliberately. When a survivor has nowhere to bring a pet, that animal becomes a tool of control. Transitional housing that welcomes both survivors and their animals removes that tool. Right now, there is a federal provision that could fund exactly that — and it needs protection.

What the Farm Bill Provision Would Do

The 2026 Farm Bill includes a provision to establish dedicated federal funding for transitional shelters where domestic violence survivors can live alongside their pets. These are not overnight crisis facilities. They are longer-stay housing environments designed to give survivors the time and stability to rebuild — without having to surrender an animal that is often their primary source of emotional support. The Congressional Research Service has flagged the provision in its side-by-side comparison of the House and Senate versions of the bill.⁷

The Provision Is Not Safe Yet

The Farm Bill has had a difficult path. The House passed its version in April 2026, though the Animal Welfare Institute noted it fell short on a range of animal-related priorities.⁵ The Senate Agriculture Committee narrowly advanced its own version in September 2026⁶ after contentious negotiations over what would survive the markup.⁴ The bill still faces a Senate floor vote and a conference process to reconcile the two chambers' versions.

Farm bills are sprawling packages of legislation, and individual provisions — especially those affecting animal welfare — have faced significant rollback pressure in this cycle.³ The American Kennel Club's Government Relations team flagged the domestic violence pet shelter provision in both its July and August 2026 federal updates,^1,2 a signal that advocates are watching closely. Provisions without visible public support are at risk of being stripped or quietly defunded before the final bill reaches the president's desk.

Authorization Is Not Enough

A provision written into law but given no real funding offers survivors nothing. Without a minimum funding floor, the program could exist on paper while receiving little or nothing in actual appropriations. A floor gives shelter operators and state agencies a concrete baseline to plan around. For survivors in rural communities — where alternatives are fewest — that floor may determine whether a safe exit is possible at all.

The Window to Act Is Now

The Senate Agriculture Committee Chair and Senate Majority Leader have direct authority over what stays in this bill, what gets funded, and at what level. As the Farm Bill moves toward a floor vote and into conference negotiations, the provisions that survive will be those with clear, visible public backing.

Sign the petition now to urge the Senate Agriculture Committee Chair and Senate Majority Leader to retain this provision, fully fund it, and establish a minimum funding floor that cannot be bypassed — so that no survivor has to choose between safety and the animal they love.