GOLDEN, Colo.—An Arvada woman convicted of animal cruelty for the treatment of rabbits at her property has been sentenced to five years of supervised probation, with terms barring her from owning more than 25 animals of any one species.
A judge also sentenced 59-year-old Debe Bell Tuesday to pay a $500 fine and perform 250 hours of community service.
Prosecutors say Bell bred rabbits but wasn’t licensed to do so when animal control officers visited her property last summer. Officers say they found 193 dehydrated rabbits in a shed, in cages soaked in urine, caked in feces, with little food.
She was convicted in January of 35 counts of animal cruelty.
Bell contended she ran a livestock operation and shouldn’t have been charged with animal cruelty.
