Will Marley come home? An exploration of the impacts of the Canterbury earthquakes on people’s relationships with their companion animals

Abstract

A sizeable number of New Zealand homes contain at least one companion animal – and many of these are afforded the status of family member by their human owner(s). It follows then that when a series of high-magnitude earthquakes shook the New Zealand city of Christchurch and the Canterbury region it is located within, many people and their companion animals were impacted. Generic and disaster-specific research into animal-human relationships has mostly been undertaken outside of the profession of social work. However, a number of recent social work research and theoretical papers draw attention to the need for this discipline to also embrace this field (Evans Gray, 2012; Morley Fook, 2005; Tedeschi, Fitchett, Molidor, 2005; Risley-Curtiss, Holley, Wolf, 2006b; Risley-Curtiss, 2010). The aftermath of the Canterbury earthquakes has revealed a need to look critically at how animal-human relationships are perceived, and the potential for these relationships to be considered within routine social work assessments and interventions. This paper considers the role of companion animals in people’s lives, addresses the status of these animals during the Canterbury earthquakes, explores issues of loss and resiliency within animal-human relationships and looks at the implications of these relationships for social work practice and research.

Young people empathising with other animals: reflections on an Australian RSPCA Humane Education Program

“…An interest in interspecies empathy allows social workers to learn more about the potential and diverse range of health and wellbeing benefits that many humans derive from their empathic animal relationships (also see Evans & Perez-y-Perez, 2013). The list of potential benefits humans can derive from, and provide to, these (animal) care providers is extensive and well documented and should not be underestimated or ignored (Fraser & Taylor, 2017).…”

“…Another reason for social workers to focus on interspecies empathy relates to the sheer number of people-including many social work clients-who keep pets and/or express how much happiness they get from watching and interacting with other beings (see Evans & Perez-y-Perez, 2013), including farmed and free roaming/wild animals, such as birds, cetaceans and kangaroos (Curtin, 2009). An estimated 50%-75% of households in North America, Europe and Australia contain companion animals and of these, around three-quarters view their animals as family members (Taylor, 2013).…”

Companion animals and disasters: The role of Human Services Organisations

“…Emergency shelters are often ill equipped to take companion animals and evacuees are likely to face difficulties finding accommodation such as rental housing that is willing to accept companion animals (Evans & Perez-y-Perez, 2013). Recognising this, HSOs may be able to proactively identify pet-friendly accommodation for evacuees and those requiring re-housing following a disaster, and to ensure that HSO workers and service users are aware of their existence (Heath & Linnabary, 2015;Hunt et al, 2012).…”

“…For example, during the assessment phase, human service workers could include companion animals when using tools such as eco-maps or genograms, thus gaining an understanding of the relationship between client and animal (Sable, 2013;Walsh, 2009a). Asking about companion animals may provide a means of building rapport (Evans & Perez-y-Perez, 2013) and can elicit important information about relationships and family functioning (Walsh, 2009b). If human service workers are not aware of the need to ask such questions, it is likely that significant information may be missed.…”

“…HSOs may also be able to work with animal welfare organisations such as the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and animal-fostering groups to make sure that emergency shelters for animals are available and accessible to evacuees (Morley & Fook, 2005). Ideally, emergency shelter for companion animals will be provided alongside welfare centres of evacuees as is recommended by the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (2010); however, this does not always occur in Aotearoa New Zealand (Evans & Perez-y-Perez, 2013) and is currently being developed within the SPCA National Plan (personal communication from SPCA, May 24, 2016).…”