Roughly 76 dogs were pulled out of a single home in Lemont, Illinois this week. The house on McCarthy Road has since been condemned. Photos from a local rescue show floors and walls caked in grime, and dirty plastic bins that appear to have served as the dogs’ beds.

Lemont police found the animals while carrying out a search warrant tied to a Firearms Restraining Order. The homeowner, 58-year-old Andrew Malak, now faces several counts of animal cruelty along with felony weapons charges, according to police. He has not been convicted, and everyone charged with a crime deserves a fair process. But a fair process should also be a serious one.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office should give this case the weight it deserves. That means pursuing each animal cruelty count, not letting them shrink into a minor penalty that ignores what these dogs lived through.

The size of the rescue shows how bad things were. The Cook County Sheriff’s Police Animal Cruelty Unit, Cook County Animal Control, Lemont police and other departments all had to step in to remove the dogs. “They were spread out everywhere, inside the garage, the yard, the bushes,” Kim Arius, owner of Ruby Whiskers Animal Rescue, told NBC Chicago. Her rescue is caring for three of the dogs, including one thought to be pregnant. Other local rescues are now raising money for vet care and rehabilitation.

Neglect on this scale should not end with a slap on the wrist. A strong outcome tells everyone in Cook County that animal cruelty is taken seriously.

Sign the petition to urge the Cook County State’s Attorney to fully prosecute every animal cruelty charge in the Lemont case, so these dogs get the justice they are owed.