When people are evicted from their homes, their pets are often abandoned.

Now Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed legislation changing that.

Currently, there is no legal difference between the pets of a person who has been evicted and their furniture and that is what can lead to pet abandonment.

The law Cuomo signed Thursday requires officers to check the property being evicted for pets, and to safely remove them so they can be re-united with the evicted tenant when they retrieve their items.