FAIRPLAY, Colo. -- State regulators ignored repeated warning signs that owners of a sled dog operation, busted in December because of starving dogs, had previous problems with thin and starving animals, a CALL7 Investigation has found.

Despite repeated problems, state regulators did not close down the facility, records show. In December, Park County Sheriff's deputies said they went to Pawsatrak Racing Sled Dog facility in Hartsel, finding nearly a hundred starving dogs and more than a half dozen dead animals.

“They were thin, emaciated, dehydrated,” said Park County Sgt. Bobbi Priestly, who is the supervisor of county's animal control deputies. “It's very heart-wrenching to see animals in that condition. You can't fix it fast enough."

The December raid was prompted by a neighbor's call to the Humane Society of the United States, whose officials called the Park County Sheriff's office.

CALL7 investigators learned that deputies returned last month and dug up four additional dead dogs that witnesses said were alive late last year, a Jan. 11 search warrant said. They also found dog bones in the pit, the warrant said.

Samuel M. Walker, 62, and Diane H. Walker, 52, both of Florissant, were charged with 30 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty and two counts of felony aggravated animal cruelty.

Holly Tarry, Colorado director of the U.S. Humane Society, said the suffering and death could have been avoided if Pet Animal Care Facilities Act (PACFA) program inspectors had done a better job and the state had not given the Walkers a license to operate a large dog facility.

“I think PACFA had an opportunity to correct problems sooner and didn't make this facility a high enough priority," Tarry said. “There's certainly a problem with the system.”

“Some would say, looking at this record, what you found in December was predictable," CALL7 Investigator Tony Kovaleski asked Sgt. Priestly.

"Yes, I think that would be a fair statement," Priestly said.

But the Agriculture Department’s PACFA administrator Kate Anderson told the Denver Post in December that Pawsatrak had “a fairly long history of compliance with department’s pet care program.” PACFA is responsible for inspecting and licensing animal facilities.

Anderson repeated that in an interview with 7NEWS last month, but PACFA’s own records and sheriff's records from both Teller and Park counties show repeated investigations and citations for thin or starving dogs on two of the Walkers' properties.

In fact, in an email, an official from the Department of Agriculture, which is where PACFA is housed, wrote that PACFA did not do an inspection of Pawsatrak in 2007 because they were short an inspector and the facility was in compliance with PACFA regulations. "Inspectors spent their time on facilities we felt needed their attention," said the email in response to 7NEWS questions.

In 2003, Samuel Walker was found guilty of animal cruelty in Teller County, according to court records. He received a fine, two years probation and ordered to keep the dogs in a “humane fashion.”

Despite the conviction, Walker received a license from PACFA for his sled dog facility. State law doesn’t prohibit PACFA from issuing a license to someone with an animal cruelty conviction -- it is currently up to PACFA’s discretion.

A year later after the cruelty conviction, deputies said they found 109 dogs on the Walkers’ Teller County property that were “thin” with hip bones and ribs visible. The dogs were so hungry when officers fed them they tried to “bite at the can” of dog food, according to the deputies' report.

Teller County sheriff’s cited Samuel Walker with cruelty to animals for failing “to provide food, water and protection from the elements for 109 mixed breed dogs,” a Nov. 4, 2004 citation showed.

The charge was dismissed by prosecutors. But officials with the district attorneys’ office could not tell 7NEWS why the case was dropped because the files had been destroyed.

There was no citation in PACFA records about the Teller County investigation, which Anderson conceded is a problem.

“By all indications, you had no idea about the reports in Teller County, the reports in Park County that raised some serious questions about this animal owner?” Kovaleski asked.

“I would agree about the communication issue, and we are trying to address that right now," Anderson said.

PACFA’s own records indicated that their inspectors found problems at the Walkers’ facility in Park County where most of the Walkers' dogs moved in 2004.

In December 2004, PACFA records show an inspector noted that the main animal care issue was that "dogs are too thin.”

In June 2005, an inspector noted that most dogs look fine but one or two are still thin.

An Oct. 29, 2007 PACFA inspection noted that “5 or 6 dogs (are) still thin.”

Sheriff’s deputies in Teller and Park counties also found problems with animals on the Walkers’ properties, records show.

In 2006, Park County deputies found seven extremely underweight dogs and issued the Walkers a warning notice. Park County Sheriff's officers also wrote in the December 2009 arrest warrant that Samuel Walker had reported a dog missing and it was found very skinny and "suffering from neglect."

There are law enforcement reports and PACFA inspections that note the dogs were being well cared for or that the Walkers are making progress to fulfilling PACFA regulations.

But in February 2009, Teller County deputies found three dogs on the Walkers' Florissant property that appeared to be very thin. Deputies noted the dogs when they responded to a missing persons complaint from Diane Walker.

Five days later, PACFA inspectors did a routine inspection at the Park County facility and the only finding was that there needed to be better drainage around the area where the dogs were tethered. There is no indication that PACFA knew about many of the previous sheriff's findings, including the one just five days earlier in the neighboring county.

“Did PACFA do its job here?” Kovaleski asked.

“I don’t know,” Priestly said. “I don't know. That's a good question.”

Anderson, at first, defended her agency’s handling of the Pawsatrak facility, but later in the interview promised to fix the problems.

“How were they allowed to continue operating?” Kovaleski said.

“I agree there are things we can learn from these incidences, and moving forward make the program better,” Anderson said.

"Should you have been more aggressive in your oversight of this facility?” Kovaleski said.

“We could have been possibly. In that case, we could have been,” Anderson said.

"How many dogs need to die before you do your job here?" Kovaleski asked.

"I think the question in that regard, I have to say this is a rare occurrence," Anderson said. "And I believe even one dog starving to death is not acceptable within this program. I believe we are going to make this program better."

Two years ago, CALL7 Investigators produced a story that questioned whether PACFA inspectors were doing their jobs and whether PACFA was responding fast enough to complaints of problems at animal facilities. After that story, PACFA hired an additional inspector.

The dogs that survived at Pawsatrak have either been adopted or are awaiting adoption at area shelters around the state, including the Teller County Regional Animal Shelter in Divide, Maxfund in Denver, Ark-Valley Humane Society in Buena Vista and other shelters.