At Pure Gold Stables and Equestrian Center in Salem Township, Ohio, four horses were found dead and decomposing, locked inside a barn. Necropsies pointed to dehydration and starvation. A fifth horse's remains turned up in a burn pit on the same property.

Under Ohio law, none of that can be charged as a felony. Horses are classified as livestock, not companion animals, so even this kind of alleged abuse is treated as a misdemeanor, the same category as far less serious offenses.

A new bill in the Ohio House, the Ohio Equine Protection Act (HB 992), would change that. It would make causing serious physical harm to a horse a felony, with tougher penalties for repeat offenders. It would also require caretakers to provide real food, water, shelter, and veterinary care, let courts remove horses from people convicted of abusing them, and stop those people from owning horses again in the future.

HB 992 needs support to move forward, and Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman has the power to help get it there. Horses used for sport, therapy, lessons, and companionship deserve more protection than a misdemeanor label gives them, and the animals found at Pure Gold Stables deserved better than what happened to them.

Sign the petition urging Speaker Huffman to back HB 992, so the next case of alleged horse cruelty in Ohio can be prosecuted like the serious crime it is.