The Links Group

Three more sleeps until our next training day in Brighton on Thursday!

We will be joined by Natalie Ratcliffe, acting National Manager at Cats Protection's specialist domestic abuse cat fostering service. Lifeline.

Natalie’s background in animal welfare is primarily in outreach support for owned pets in the community. Through her work supporting owners who were experiencing challenges in caring for their pets, she learnt about the impact of domestic abuse on animals and has specialised in this sector ever since.

Sign up now: https://bsavaportal.bsava.com/s/community-event?id=a1mTw000007FalbIAC

BSAVA

Join us for our training day in Brighton on Thursday!

Dogs Trust's Laura Saunders will be one of our speakers, talking about the essential lifeline that specialist domestic abuse fostering services like the Freedom Project provide across the UK, and why it's important for all those working in the safeguarding of people and animals to know just what makes these services so special.

Find out more and book here: https://bsavaportal.bsava.com/s/community-event?id=a1mTw000007FalbIAC

These days are run thanks to the generous support of the BSAVA .

Our veterinary undergraduate training programme, kindly supported by MSD Animal Health, has been running for over 20 years!

This includes today's session at The Royal Veterinary College (RVC), where Emily Mills and Jason Fletcher will be joined by the RVC's Head of Veterinary Forensic Pathology Henny Martineau to deliver training on recognising and acting on to undergraduate students.

We look forward to further developing this training in line with the government's Animal Welfare Strategy and Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy.

Thanks so much to the ADCH for inviting us to present about at their annual conference.

The room was packed and we had so many wonderful, engaged conversations with attendees afterwards.

Thank you to everyone who came, and especially to the organisers who pulled off an amazing event.

Join Links Group Chair Paula Boyden and Hill's Pet Nutrition's Hillary Pearce DVM, MRCVS at the Animal Welfare Foundation 2026 Discussion Forum on 11 May.

Hillary, an author of 'A novel corporate-community partnership model provides safe housing for pets of domestic violence victims', has a wealth of experience on , and she and Paula will be presenting lightning talks around the subject.

See you there!

Discussion Forum 2026 Tickets - The Animal Welfare Foundation Exploring the ethics and realities of animal welfare today Join us on Monday 11th May 2026 for a thought-provoking programme tackling the complex questions shaping animal welfare and veterinary ethics. […]

Free webinar on Friday!

The Use and Abuse of Animals by Perpetrators of Domestic Abuse, hosted by Mary Wakeham of Refuge4Pets, explains a multi-agency approach to safeguarding all victim-survivors of domestic abuse, both people and animals.

Sign up here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-use-and-abuse-of-animals-by-perpetrators-of-domestic-abuse-tickets-1984466171740?aff=oddtdtcreator&utm_source=brevo&utm_campaign=March%202026%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email

"If it was that bad, wouldn't they just leave?"

Domestic abuse specialist, Jacqui Kilburn, debunks this and many other myths on our training day in Brighton on 21/05/26.

You can find out more and book here: https://bsavaportal.bsava.com/s/community-event?id=a1mTw000007FalbIAC



BSAVA Women's Aid Refuge Refuge4Pets Endeavour Project Dogs Trust Cats Protection RSPCA (England & Wales)

The Crime and Policing Act 2026 is now law! This means we finally have a proper definition of sexual abuse of animals in legislation in England and Wales.

We still have work to do – including getting the law changed in Scotland and Northern Ireland - but we have reached a major milestone.

Massive congratulations to our trustee Dave Martin for his untiring work in pressing this forward, and to our Chair Paula Boyden for all her valuable support.

Join us in Brighton on 21 May for our multi-disciplinary training day.
It's a chance to learn more about the important role animal fostering services play for pet owners experiencing domestic abuse.

Freedom is Dogs Trust's dog fostering service for victim-survivors of domestic abuse. National manager Laura Saunders will talk about the essential lifeline that Freedom, along with three other fostering services accredited by the Links Group, provide across the UK.

These training days are run thanks to the generous support of the BSAVA. You can find out more and book here: https://bsavaportal.bsava.com/s/community-event?id=a1mTw000007FalbIAC

The Links Group team were on the road again last week.
We joined our colleagues at Wrexham University for a multidisciplinary conference exploring the links between animal and human abuse.
We are grateful to all the team at Wrexham University who have worked tirelessly to plan this event, bringing together individuals who support both animals and people within our communities.
https://thelinksgroup.org.uk/protecting-animals-protecting-people-with-wrexham-university/
RSPCA (England & Wales) Naturewatch Foundation Refuge4Pets North Wales Police