Ace is only eight months old. On October 8, police in New Bedford, Massachusetts, opened an animal cruelty investigation after surveillance footage from an apartment on Barker’s Lane appeared to show a woman repeatedly striking and kicking the young dog at the foot of a staircase until he managed to flee.

Animal control officers later found Ace at a nearby home. Investigators said he had bruising across his head and body and a swollen eye socket. He was treated at an animal hospital and is now being cared for at a local shelter. A 32-year-old New Bedford woman has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty, according to 7 News WHDH.

Ace survived. Now he needs the justice system to treat what happened to him with the seriousness it deserves. A puppy cannot speak up for himself, call for help, or testify. The people responsible for enforcing the law have to do that for him.

The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office has the authority to pursue this case to the fullest extent of Massachusetts law. If the case ends in a conviction, prosecutors can also ask the court for conditions that keep the person responsible away from animals in the future.

Ace should never be sent back to the place where this happened. New Bedford Animal Control and the shelter caring for him should make sure that when he has healed, he goes home to a safe and loving family.

Sign the petition to urge the Bristol County District Attorney to seek full accountability for Ace, and make sure he never goes back to harm.