Abused and battered women and their families with pets can be extra thankful this holiday for the first-of-its kind sanctuary that spawned a nationwide movement.
In 2007, Noah’s Animal House opened right next door to Shade Tree Shelter in Las Vegas, giving women and their families of all species the chance to be together while building a bridge to a new life. This groundbreaking achievement caught the eye of CNN which has named Staci Alonso, Noah’s founder, one of its Top 10 Heroes of the Year for 2019.
Alonso recalls the fateful day in 2005 that changed the course of domestic shelters forever. Working as a board member for the Shade Tree Shelter, she received a call from the shelter’s executive director asking her to speak to a woman who showed up at the shelter lugging a sack of her worldly possessions — and a cat carrier holding her last friend in the world.
“Her courage was slipping away because she was told that while she was welcome, her best friend, who just happened to have four legs, could not enter the facility with her,” Alonso writes on Noah’s web page. “She was ready to turn back and felt that the life that she knew must be a life that she deserved.” Alonso was later shocked to learn that many battered women return to their abusive environment to remain with their beloved pet.
That day, Alonso assumed the role of temporary foster parent for the woman’s cat and vowed to remove the “no pets allowed” sign from domestic shelters everywhere.
Since Noah’s opened, women and their children can visit their pets any time. Designated “cuddle rooms” allow families to share special moments with their furry loves one(s) who saw them through the worst of times. Veterinary and grooming services are also available.
For Elaina S., Noah’s punched a ticket to freedom for herself, her four daughters and her two dogs and three cats.
Two years ago, Elaina was in an abusive relationship in another state. “Where is this whole huge circus going to go?” Elaina told ABC News local affiliate KTNV in Las Vegas. During an online search, she found Noah’s. “This is our break!,” Elaina rememberers. “This is our way out. This is our escape route.”
For six weeks, Elaina’s entire brood, two legged and four, stayed at the adjoining shelters. At the Shade Tree Shelter next door, Elaina got back on her feet financially and bought a house.
“It was just a sigh of relief. A weight had been lifted — a heavy weight for a lot of years,” Elaina said.
Alonso credits her two two pit-bull mixes for being “my rock and reinforcement” when she was pregnant and her husband committed suicide. “I was alone every single night going through grief and anger . . . They kissed away a lot of tears,” Alonso told ABC news.
Her own experience of the healing power of companion animals gave Alonso a window into what other lost, frightened and grieving women, children and animals face: “I couldn’t imagine being in that type of [abusive] situation, finding the courage to leave and having to leave [pets] behind,” she told CNN.
Domestic abuse shelters across the country have reached out to Alonso in efforts to duplicate her model. Some have expanded on it. On October 30, 2018, the Urban Resource Institute opened PALS Place (People and Animals Living Safely), a seven-story haven in Brooklyn, New York, where victims of domestic violence can live together with their animal companions. Still, fewer than 10% of domestic violence shelters provide any services for pets.
Thanks to Alonso’s vision and tenacity, women no longer have to choose between an abusive past and a future without the furry family member who helped save their life.