All too often, pets are used as pawns in abusive relationships. Now Texas lawmakers have enacted a new state law that will include pets in protective orders. Belinda Smith, who heads the animal cruelty section for the Harris County Texas District Attorney’s Office, says there is a well-documented link between animal abuse and domestic abuse.

“Family pets are used as tools to harm, to threaten, to intimidate and to control,” she said. “They tend to use the pet as an instrument of aggression, so many times what we see are pets being thrown from balconies, thrown from windows, thrown against the wall, stabbed, shot.”

In a recent case, Harris County Texas authorities say Nidra Billard threw a puppy that was barely a month old from a third-story balcony after a fight with her boyfriend.

According to court documents, Billard’s boyfriend left in the middle of an argument, so she threw his six-week-old Pit Bull out of a third-floor window. Thankfully, the puppy landed on a courtyard that was a mixture of grass and sidewalk and was taken to BARC for treatment.

“BARC sees a lot of despicable things, but to see an animal used as a tool to get back against someone you’re in a fight with shows a complete lack of any humanity,” said Chris Newport with BARC.

In another case a few years ago, a woman said the man sharing her home flew into a rage and killed her dog because it ate some food that had fallen on the floor.

“He just put his foot up and stomped its head, because the dog was licking on a little tiny piece of chicken. He said, ‘That’s my food,’” said BARC’s Diane Golden.

According to the American Humane Association, 71 percent of pet-owning women who enter shelters report their abusers had threatened, maimed or killed family pets out of revenge.

“Women stay in relationships where they are at risk of harm or death to protect their pets. We see it every day,” said Rebecca White with the Houston Area Women’s Center.

Experts say that happens about 75 percent of the time, and about a third of battered women report their children have hurt or killed animals themselves.

“They’re going to mimic that behavior,” White said. “They’re going to learn that behavior. Also the children themselves feel powerless, and this is a way for a child to feel like they can gain some power over someone else who is more powerless than they are.”

Story by Elaine Furst for Dog Files