Seventeen animals were taken out of a home in Jackson Center, Pennsylvania, this fall. How the case against the three people charged is handled now will decide whether those animals get a fresh start, and whether this can happen again.

Pennsylvania State Police served a search warrant at the Franklin Road home on September 24. Inside, troopers found 14 cats, 2 dogs and a bird kept in crates piled on top of one another. Police called the conditions “deplorable,” according to WKBN, and the house reportedly smelled strongly of urine, feces and garbage. Three people now face 55 charges, one of them a felony.

The animals are now being cared for at the Anna Shelter in Erie. They are safe for the moment, but their future depends on how this case ends.

The Mercer County District Attorney’s Office has the power to see this case through. Prosecutors should pursue the charges in full and not let them shrink to minor offenses. If the defendants are convicted, prosecutors should ask the Mercer County Court of Common Pleas to transfer ownership of all 17 animals to the shelter so they can be adopted into safe homes, and to bar the defendants from keeping animals in the future.

In 2017, Pennsylvania lawmakers from both parties came together to pass Libre’s Law, which toughened penalties for animal cruelty so cases like this one would be taken seriously. That law only works when it is enforced.

Every one of these animals deserves a real home, and no animal should ever live in a stacked crate again. Sign the petition to ask the Mercer County District Attorney to pursue this case in full while the charges are still being decided.