In Fresno County, Carl Joseph Mendes is facing just four years in local prison, even though he has been charged with the neglect and death of up to 500 animals and with exposing children to the same horrific, unsanitary conditions.

Law enforcement found pigs confined with rotting carcasses, baby goats too weak to survive, and birds infected with contagious diseases packed into filthy cages. Some animals had to be euthanized on the spot. Many had already died.

Beneath the surface of the property were mass graves of animals. And all of this unfolded while children lived there, exposed to the same hazardous conditions. This led to felony child endangerment charges.

Yet under California law, even if convicted, Mendes may face just over four years in local prison. Authorities have described the property as a scene of mass suffering, preventable death, and serious public health risks.

That is not justice. That is a failure of the law.

We are calling on California legislators and the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office to support stronger sentencing laws for the most extreme cases of animal cruelty and child endangerment. Cases like this are not isolated accidents. They are deliberate patterns of abuse and neglect that must carry real consequences.

Sign this petition if you believe a man responsible for the suffering and death of hundreds of animals, and for putting children at risk, should not walk free in just a few years. California must do better.