Kittens placed into the care of a trusted adopter were killed, and the abuse was recorded on video.

William Ohlson allegedly adopted kittens from a shelter in the Reno, Nevada area before filming himself killing them. He was arrested by the San Francisco Police Department and later again by the Reno Police Department after returning home, where he is now facing felony animal cruelty charges. These animals came to him trusting they were safe. They weren't.

This case reveals a frightening gap in how we protect shelter animals. Ohlson moved between cities — arrested in San Francisco, then found back in Reno — while shelters had no system to stop him from accessing vulnerable animals. Animals surrendered to shelters deserve better than to end up in the hands of someone who would hurt them for sport.

We are calling on Nevada lawmakers and Washoe County Animal Control to require criminal background checks before animal adoptions are approved, create a statewide registry of individuals convicted of or charged with animal cruelty, and mandate cross-jurisdictional reporting so that someone arrested in one city cannot simply move to the next and start again.

These kittens had no voice. We can be theirs. Sign this petition to demand real protections for shelter animals and justice for every animal harmed in Ohlson's care.