For about ten years, CDE Exotics brought its snakes and spiders to children's birthday parties and school events around Wilkes-Barre. Now the owner, Cameron English, faces 42 charges, including 20 felony counts of aggravated animal cruelty. Ten of those felonies involve alleged torture.

The charges follow an April 21 raid of the downtown facility by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) of Luzerne County and city officials. According to the criminal complaint, officers found filthy cages, animals with no food or water, and dead snakes rotting beside live ones. Birds had dying limbs from what the complaint calls "traumatic amputations." The charges allege that English, who is not a veterinarian, cut off a bird's leg using fishing line. Soaring Spirits Sanctuary, the bird rescue that helped with the raid, says a galah cockatoo named Polly lost one foot to an amateur amputation while her other foot was decaying.

English denies abusing any animals and says his nonprofit was rescuing them. He was released after posting $15,000 bail.

Felony charges can be reduced or dropped in plea deals. The Luzerne County District Attorney's Office should pursue every count, including the torture felonies. If English is convicted, the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas should bar him from owning, keeping, or exhibiting animals for life.

The wildlife rehabilitators who reported the conditions say they faced harsh backlash from his supporters for speaking up. A full prosecution shows that reporting cruelty matters and that animals in someone's care deserve protection.

Sign the petition to demand full accountability for the animals at CDE Exotics, before a plea deal lets this case quietly fade.