GOLDEN, Colo. -- Nearly 200 rabbits seized from a farm in Jefferson County are back up for adoption after a judge declined to issue a temporary restraining order to halt the distribution and further spaying and neutering of the animals.

Thirty-four of the rabbits are at the Foothills Animal Shelter just west of the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

The shelter is accepting applications Monday through Friday from 3-6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 2-5 p.m.

The animals were seized from Six Bells Farm, at 12820 W. 75th Ave., on July 21.

An Animal Control officer drove out to the farm after receiving a tip that the rabbits were being kept in a shed with little or no light and in filthy and cramped cages.

Owner Debe Bell told 7NEWS that the tipster based the claim on a visit to the farm in mid-2010.

She said much of the rabbit population has turned over since then.

"If they're going to accuse me and drag me through the mud and destroy all of my livestock, which was worth $17,000, then I need to know who this person is," Bell said.

Investigators said that when they went to the farm, they found conditions similar to what the tipster alleged.

They released photographs of rabbits showing their fur matted with feces, dirty cages caked with piles of feces and pools of urine, and empty water bowls that hadn't been cleaned.

"There are 75 percent more rabbits housed in the shed than space allows," the search warrant affidavit states.

It goes on to say that the nearly 200 rabbits were housed in a shed measuring approximately 20 feet by 30 feet in size.

When asked if Bell was capable of caring for the animals, defense attorney Elizabeth Kearney said, "Absolutely."

Kearney said, “There is a difference between how you care for pets in your home and how you care for livestock.”

She said the rabbits are livestock.

"The fact that some of those rabbits had manure in their pens, that happens. And the fact that some of the water dishes ... were empty doesn't mean they didn't have water that day."

But the affidavit states that rabbits were "aggressively thirsty," and lunging toward water bowls being placed in front of them by responding Animal Control officers and medical personnel.

Officers who removed the rabbits said one of them was found dead in its cage and that several others were found dead in a freezer.

Bell said the rabbits in the freezer were to be taken to the zoo as feed for other animals.

When asked about the rabbit found dead in its cage, Bell replied, “It was alive at 5 a.m. when I watered the heard. Rabbits die. People die.”

She said, “I’ve raised livestock my whole life. And you can come home and find something dead on the property and go, 'Wow! I wonder what happened.' They were fine three hours ago.'” Kearney said that when Bell was confronted with the decision to surrender ownership of the animals or come up with a $24,000 bond to pay for their care at area shelters, she chose to surrender.

“Under the pressure of the moment she surrendered the animals,” Kearney said. “But she was told she had 10 days to change her mind.”

Prosecutors said she was told she had 10 days to come up with the bond.

The Judge noted that the documents she signed relinquishing ownership stated, "PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE SIGNING."

Kearney takes issue with what she claims is "a statutory scheme that allows for seizure of property without any opportunity to get in front of a judge."

"I can't criticize the judge," she said. "He was doing what he though best under the law. We're just saying that the law in this case is pretty bizzare for the American system."

But there are others who say the law is designed to protect animals.

Bell is facing 25 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.

She is due back in court Sept. 12.