On Sept. 13, a cat was found dead in Lincoln, Nebraska, curled in a pet bed under a tree near 40th Street and Normal Boulevard. Officers said it was visibly, severely underweight. A necropsy later confirmed the cat was severely malnourished. The Lancaster County Attorney's Office now has the chance to show that this kind of suffering has real consequences.

Lincoln Animal Control used the cat's microchip to trace it back to its owner. According to Animal Control, the owner said the cat had started losing weight back in April and never saw a veterinarian. She reportedly told officers she had no cat food and was giving the cat human food. Yet officers found nothing in the refrigerator the cat could have eaten. Lincoln Police arrested her on suspicion of felony animal cruelty.

That is roughly five months of a pet wasting away while help was within reach. Lincoln has pet food pantries, and local groups like the Capital Humane Society and Lincoln Animal Ambassadors offer support to owners who are struggling to care for their animals.

Everyone accused of a crime deserves a fair process. But animals cannot speak up for themselves, so it falls to prosecutors to do it for them. The Lancaster County Attorney's Office should pursue this case fully and, if the owner is convicted, ask the court to bar her from owning animals in the future.

Sign the petition to tell the Lancaster County Attorney's Office that this cat's life mattered and that no animal in Lincoln should be left to suffer like this again.