Nine cats — two adults and seven kittens — were removed from a St. Helens, Oregon apartment after police entered while arresting a tenant on an unrelated warrant. Columbia County Animal Control found that one cat was malnourished and appeared to have burns, while several others, including four kittens, had ear injuries that investigators believe were deliberately made with scissors rather than caused by illness or self-harm.

The tenant, 29-year-old Eva Peace Gerich, now faces four counts of second-degree animal abuse and five counts of second-degree animal neglect in Columbia County Circuit Court, on top of separate charges for burglary, criminal mischief, unlawful use of a weapon, and menacing tied to the original arrest warrant. These are charges, not a conviction, but the pattern investigators describe deserves the full attention of the justice system.

We're calling on the Columbia County District Attorney's Office to pursue these animal abuse and neglect charges to the fullest extent the law allows, and on the Columbia County Humane Society to keep the public updated on the recovery of the nine cats now in its care. Animals can't speak up for themselves — the people responsible for protecting them have to.

Sign the petition to demand full accountability for the abuse and neglect of these nine cats, before another animal is hurt and forgotten.