I run I Love Every Dog, and I need to tell you about sixteen animals nobody was watching out for until a Baldwin County deputy pulled onto a property on Tolbert Road in Bay Minette, Alabama.
What they found was fifteen dogs and a cat living with no food and no clean water, only rainwater runoff to drink from. Puppies were so malnourished they could hardly walk. Adult dogs showed signs of malnutrition and untreated health problems. One dog was already dead on the property. So was a hog. Baldwin County Sheriff Anthony Lowery called it one of the more disturbing animal cruelty cases his office has encountered.
Jessica Lee Phillips has been charged with felony aggravated animal cruelty. She was arrested, posted bond, and was back home within a day. Now the case is headed to a grand jury, and that is the moment that decides whether this becomes a real felony prosecution or quietly fades into a lesser charge and a plea.
District Attorney Robert Wilters, I am asking you to present the full felony case to the grand jury and to seek an indictment on every count these animals' suffering supports. Fifteen dogs and a cat did not have access to clean water in Alabama heat. A dog and a hog died on that property. That is not a paperwork violation. That is animal torture, and it deserves to be treated like the felony it is.
I have watched too many of these cases end with a fine and a warning while the next animal on the next property pays the price. Please do not let this be one of them. Sign this petition and join me in telling District Attorney Wilters that Baldwin County expects a real felony prosecution, not a plea to a misdemeanor.
