Carlos Santillan, an animal control officer at Monroe County Animal Services in Georgia, allegedly placed four live puppies into the shelter's incinerator and burned them to death. He now faces four felony animal cruelty charges. These crimes demand serious consequences: maximum penalties, a lifetime ban from working with animals, and mandatory psychological counseling.

But Santillan's alleged act did not happen in isolation. Monroe County Animal Services is a certified partner of Best Friends Animal Society, a national organization that rates and awards partner shelters based entirely on "live release" rates, how many animals leave a facility alive, regardless of what happens to them after. That single metric shapes everything: which animals get admitted, how they are treated, and who gets hired and supervised.

This framing sounds compassionate. In practice, it repeatedly fails animals. Best Friends partner facilities across Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina have reportedly turned away animals with nowhere safe to go. In Texas, a Best Friends partner refused four puppies; the man who was turned away allegedly killed them himself and faced criminal charges. In Kentucky, a woman threw a kitten through shelter doors after being told there was a waiting list and a fee. In California and Nevada, so-called rescues partnered with Best Friends were raided after animals were found hoarded and neglected. A Wyoming shelter was celebrated by Best Friends for its "high save rates" while still killing animals in a gas chamber.

Following Santillan's arrest, Monroe County temporarily closed its shelter and announced reforms. One facility's cleanup is not enough.

Sign this petition to demand maximum prosecution of Carlos Santillan and a national audit of Best Friends' partner certification standards. Save rates mean nothing when animals are suffering and dying in the process.