Angel was a 2-year-old poodle mix from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In June, her owners brought her to a local animal hospital, but she was already dead. Veterinary staff said she looked neglected, and a police officer described her as severely malnourished.

A necropsy at Cornell University found a corn cob stuck in Angel’s small intestine. The pathologist said dehydration and/or electrolyte imbalances were the likely main cause of death. The report also found that Angel was in poor body condition, and that her decline likely started before the blockage and made it worse.

According to police, her owners said Angel swallowed something about two weeks before she died and then stopped eating and drinking. They told investigators that money problems kept them from getting her medical care. For two weeks, a small dog went without food or water, and no one took her to a vet.

On Oct. 14, both owners were arrested and charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, one of the most serious animal cruelty charges in Pennsylvania.

Angel cannot speak for herself. The Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office has the power to make sure this case gets the attention it deserves. Prosecutors should pursue the aggravated cruelty charges in full. If the owners are convicted, prosecutors should also ask the court to bar them from owning or caring for animals in the future, so no other pet faces the same suffering.

Every animal deserves basic care, and every case like this deserves real consequences.

Sign the petition to demand justice for Angel and protect the next animal before it is too late.