ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — Ten dogs were found living in deplorable conditions inside one Arapahoe County home. Now, a woman is facing charges for the care, or lack thereof, she provided.
On Tuesday, deputies from the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office responded to an apartment off of South Quebec Street after a woman reported two of her dogs were fighting and she had been bit trying to intervene.
Once Deputy Marc Hurwitz arrived, he talked to the woman and went inside the apartment to care for one of the dogs injured in the fight.
Hurwitz told Denver7 once he was inside the home, he knew Arapahoe County Animal Services needed to get involved.
In body camera video obtained exclusively by Denver7, Hurwitz can be heard trying to calm the pets.
"I haven't seen anything to this extreme ... in my career," he said. "[There were] approximately 10 dogs living in the apartment. There was feces and urine throughout the floor ... there was blood throughout the apartment."
All 10 dogs were seized by officers, five of them were only puppies. According to a police report, the dogs appeared to be a mix of pit bull and mastiff.
"They were all in one crate — all five puppies," Hurwitz said. "They were all really emaciated, very skinny. You could see ribs and you could see hip bones. You could see the outlines of the skull through the skin."
The police report went on to say deputies could find no food or water available to the dogs inside the home.
The 34-year-old woman was issued a summons, charging her with 10 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty. In the body camera video, the woman implied she'd been selling the puppies for money.
"No he already paid," the woman can be heard telling an animal control officer.
Denver7 tried to contact the woman by phone to find out more about the situation, but she couldn't be reached.
Through a public records request, Denver7 obtained another video pertaining to the case. In it, a woman's voice is heard yelling at the dogs using a variety of expletives.
"Anybody want some dogs because ... because these dogs gotta go right [expletive] now. They're free!" the person says.
Hurwitz said when he arrived on scene, he noticed no aggression from the dogs. He only noted the dogs were in need of care.
"I noticed that all the dogs were really sweet, really nice. I had no issues with any of the dogs," he said. "We spent the time and took the effort to really care for these dogs because it makes us safer ... it makes the community safer. We do care about the people that we serve, and I think that also includes the animals that we serve."
The dogs are being care for at a local shelter while court proceedings play out.
