Nineteen dogs were found dead inside a Tulsa home that was supposed to be a safe place for animals. The house served as the base for Mercy Sakes animal rescue. Inside, officers also found 24 animals that were still alive but starving, according to KFOR.

Animal control officers called in Tulsa police after a powerful odor and swarms of insects drew their attention to the residence. The woman running the rescue, Marcia Reynolds, was arrested and now faces 29 felony counts of animal cruelty. So many animals came out of the home that Tulsa Animal Services shut its doors for a full day just to take them in.

People who hand an animal to a rescue trust that it will be fed, treated, and placed in a loving home. Families, donors, and volunteers all count on that promise. When it breaks, animals pay the price.

Accountability needs to come in two parts. The Tulsa County District Attorney should pursue all 29 felony counts and, if Reynolds is convicted, ask the court to bar her from owning, fostering, or caring for animals in the future. The Oklahoma Legislature should then make sure this cannot quietly happen again by requiring home-based rescues to be licensed and inspected on a regular schedule, so warning signs are caught long before animals die.

Rescues do lifesaving work across Oklahoma, and the good ones have nothing to fear from basic oversight. Regular inspections protect the animals, the donors who fund them, and the honest rescuers whose reputations suffer every time a case like this makes the news.

The 24 survivors made it out. The 19 dogs who died never got that chance.

Sign the petition to demand full accountability for Mercy Sakes and real inspections that protect every rescued animal in Oklahoma.