Weld County Woman Accused Of Hoarding 174 Dogs On Property

A  Weld County woman was arrested on Tuesday on 174 counts of animal cruelty for allegedly having that number of dogs on her property.

That's according to post from the Weld County Sheriff's Office on the agency's Facebook page. According to the post, the investigation of what the sheriff's office calls a "complex animal cruelty/hoarding" case started with a February 14 arrest in Roggen, Colorado.

A total of 174 dogs were removed from the property in Roggen in phases according to sheriff's office Public Information Officer Melissa Chesmore. She also says that Alvarado was not the person arrested in February,.

Eventually the investigation led to the arrest of 55-year-old Marie Alvarado on Tuesday, May 2. The release says besides the removal of the dogs from the property, the Weld County Health Department was notified due to the property being uninhabitable.

According to the post:

""WCSO would like to thank the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) who assisted in finding transport and placement for several dogs involved in the case. The Larimer Humane Society (LHS) and Colorado Humane Society also assisted in removing dogs from the property and transporting them for disbursement to local shelters. After intake and examination by the shelters, many of the dogs became available for adoption at the Foothills Animal Shelter, the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, and the MaxFund Animal Shelter. All the dogs that were relinquished were mixed small chiweenie/terrier."

The Colorado Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Animal Protection helped with the investigation, along with sheriff's deputies and the agency's Animal Control Division. Anyone who has information on the case is being asked to call the sheriff's office at [970] 356-4015.