Thousands of you were outraged after hearing the story about a cat named Prince, who was tortured and burned in Ohio last year. Sadly, for both Prince and his guardian, and for all those who worked to make cruelty to cats and other animals a felony in the state, the outcome of this case was extremely disappointing.

In June 2020, Eric Rollins called his then-girlfriend, Carina Ealy, at work to tell her that he had bathed Prince, and was blow-drying him. In a second call to Ealy, Rollins said that Prince had defecated and he would have to bathe him again. When Ealy returned from work after a late shift, she noticed a small smoldering pile in her yard. She dismissed it as smoldering grass as Rollins had cut the lawn that day. 

It wasn’t until the following day that Ealy would discover evidence that Prince had been brutally chased and beaten from his bath to the basement and that it was Prince’s remains that had been smoldering in the yard. When Rollins was questioned by law enforcement, he admitted to killing Prince.

Rollins was arrested and charged with both felony and misdemeanor cruelty, and more than 12,000 people signed In Defense of Animals’ alert calling for his prosecution.

Unfortunately, the felony charge is expected to be dropped when Rollins appears for sentencing in September.

While it’s a deeply disappointing outcome that has left Prince’s guardian grieving and disheartened, and Prince without justice, we’re grateful to everyone who spoke out on his behalf and we’ll continue to advocate for animal victims of cruelty like him.

Please consider making a generous gift today supporting our work with law enforcement to share knowledge of animal law, provide guidance in investigating cruelty complaints, establish resources to address cruelty cases, and empower future generations of caring individuals as to how humans and other animals can coexist harmoniously to benefit all.

For more on how else you can support our work, please visit our Justice for Animals campaign.