Article Type: Short Report Title: Reports of animal abuse in child protection referrals: A study of cases from one South Australian service Running title: Reports of Animal Abuse in Child Protection Referrals Authors: Damien W. Riggs College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Naomi G. Baum College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Nik Taylor Department of Human Services, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Jacqui Beall College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia Corresponding Author: Damien W. Riggs, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. Tel: +61 8 8201 2786. Email damien.riggs@flinders.edu.au Funding: No funding was received for the study reported in this paper. Damien Riggs is supported by an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, FT130100087. Acknowledgements: The first, second and fourth authors live and work on the lands of the Kaurna people, and acknowledge their sovereignty as First Nations people. Thanks go to Debra Cavendar for collating all reports, and Emma Hunt and Daniele Antoniou for assisting with data coding.