For months, an Alaskan community knew something was wrong. Neighbors made complaints to Mat-Su Borough Animal Control as early as January. They begged authorities to check on the dogs. They volunteered to go to the property themselves, to bring food, to take the dogs in.

Authorities said no. Do not feed them. Do not take them. Do not interfere with the investigation.

The community trusted the system. The system let 25 dogs die.

On Wednesday, Alaska State Troopers arrived at a property in the Caswell Lakes area and found 25 dead dogs. No charges have been filed. No one has been held accountable.

The people who loved these dogs had been sounding the alarm for months. One neighbor described a whole community pleading with authorities to check in and make sure the dogs were okay. Another said locals were told their help would interfere with an investigation that never protected a single animal.

"We believed the system," one community member said. "And the system failed those dogs. And failed us."

The Mat-Su Borough Manager has acknowledged the borough must do better. That is not enough. An acknowledgment is not accountability. A promise to review protocols does not bring back 25 dogs.

We are calling for a full independent investigation into why months of complaints were ignored, criminal charges against those responsible for the dogs' deaths, and real enforceable reforms to Mat-Su Borough's animal control response.

Sign this petition and demand justice for the 25 dogs the system abandoned.