When animals are removed from cruelty, the public often sees the rescue and assumes safety has arrived.

For many animals, the next chapter is far less clear.

Dogs, cats, horses, rabbits, birds, and other animals seized from neglect, hoarding, puppy mills, or fighting operations may still legally belong to the person accused of harming them. Until a court settles the case or the owner gives them up, those animals can remain stuck in shelters while the legal system moves slowly.

Seized Animals Still Need Care Every Day

The ASPCA warns that animals caught in cruelty cases may spend months or years in custody before they can be placed in new homes. During that time, they need housing, food, veterinary treatment, medication, enrichment, and behavior support.

That care is not optional. Many seized animals arrive sick, injured, malnourished, fearful, or poorly socialized. Even the best shelter can become stressful when an animal remains there too long.

Yet in states without strong cost-of-care laws, the bill often lands on animal shelters, rescues, animal control agencies, local governments, and taxpayers.

Shelters Can Be Crushed By One Cruelty Case

Cost-of-care laws, also called bonding and forfeiture laws, create a court process after animals are seized. As HumanePro by Humane World for Animals explains, an owner may be ordered to post money for the animals’ care or relinquish them so they can move toward adoption. The seizing agency or prosecutor must present evidence, and the owner can respond in court.

The need can be severe.

A Lexington Herald Leader report on Kentucky described how shelters can be left paying for seized animals while criminal charges remain pending. In one case discussed by HumanePro, 42 dogs from an alleged puppy mill had spent 18 months in county care, with costs reported at more than $100,000.

These cases do not only hurt shelter budgets. They can crowd facilities, drain veterinary funds, limit help for other animals, and make future cruelty enforcement harder.

Strong Laws Protect Rights And Animals

Cost-of-care laws do not erase due process. Strong versions require a hearing, evidence, and judicial review.

The ASPCA’s position statement says animal cruelty victims need clear legal processes that account for cost, welfare, and the fact that animals should not remain in limbo longer than necessary.

Maryland’s law offers one model. The Maryland General Assembly established a process for hearings after seizure, review of reasonable costs, owner objections, payment schedules, and forfeiture if ordered payments are not made.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund continues to track wide differences in state animal protection laws, showing why state-level action still matters.

Lawmakers Must Put Responsibility Where It Belongs

Animal cruelty victims should not pay with months of stress because their abuser refuses responsibility. Shelters should not be forced to choose between caring for seized animals and helping the next animal in need.

State lawmakers can fix this. They can pass strong cost-of-care laws that require those responsible for animals to pay for their care or release them to safety.

Make animal abusers pay for the animals they hurt.