A dog named Fendi is dead because it took weeks for help to reach her. In early July, a Southeast Portland neighbor gave police video of an extremely underweight dog living in a nearby backyard. Officers went out that day but couldn't locate her, and the case then sat with a follow-up unit for weeks before sergeants finally found Fendi at a home near Southeast 135th and Harold Street. By then she was so emaciated her ribs and skeleton were visible through her skin, and she struggled just to walk toward the officers trying to help her.

Emergency veterinary care couldn't undo the damage. Testing later found Fendi's bone marrow held only about 1% fat, compared to roughly 80% in a healthy dog — a level of starvation so extreme that Multnomah County Animal Services made the decision to humanely euthanize her rather than let her keep suffering. Her owner now faces two felony counts of first-degree animal neglect, but Fendi didn't have to die waiting for that follow-up to happen.

We're calling on the Portland Police Bureau and the Portland City Council to commit to faster turnaround on animal cruelty tips — clear timelines for follow-up visits, and enough staffing on neighborhood response teams that a credible report with video evidence doesn't sit for weeks while an animal is starving. Communities did their part here by speaking up. Local government needs to make sure that speaking up leads to help in days, not weeks.

Sign the petition to demand faster response times to animal neglect reports in Portland — before another Fendi runs out of time.