{"id":45293,"date":"2021-08-10T22:28:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-11T04:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/judge-orders-dogs-be-returned-after-seizure-by-sheriff\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:24:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:24:39","slug":"judge-orders-dogs-be-returned-after-seizure-by-sheriff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/judge-orders-dogs-be-returned-after-seizure-by-sheriff\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge orders dogs be returned after seizure by sheriff"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Colorado
Colorado Human Society field investigators lift a dog out of a pen on County Road P on Thursday morning. Fourteen dogs were temporarily seized by the Montezuma County Sheriff after a search warrant and evaluations by the state veterinarian. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

After a Montezuma County court hearing, 13 of 14 dogs seized by Sheriff Steve Nowlin for suspected neglect have been returned to their owners.<\/p>\n

The dogs were taken July 22 during a search warrant investigating animal neglect on a Road P property.<\/p>\n

At a hearing in late July, county Judge JenniLynn Lawrence ruled there was not probable cause for seizing 13 of the dogs on the property, according to hearing minutes.<\/p>\n

Twelve dogs were returned to owner Sharon Ward and one was returned to owner Lousinda Ward.<\/p>\n

Lawrence found that there was probable cause for a dog owned by Sharon Ward to be seized and it should remain impounded, according to court records.<\/p>\n

The dog is recovering from an injury caused by a collar, Nowlin said.<\/p>\n

As a result of the investigation, on July 23 the sheriff issued each dog owner a citation for cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

Regarding the dog seizure and citations, Nowlin said it was a result of \u201cinsufficient water, food, shelter and overall living conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to improve the living conditions for the animals,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope they listen to us and do the things they need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assistant District Attorney Will Furse said Tuesday that the citations for alleged animal cruelty are separate from the judge\u2019s order returning 13 of the 14 animals.<\/p>\n

The dogs were seized as part of an suspected animal neglect investigation that resulted in a search warrant carried out on July 22.<\/p>\n

A Sheriff\u2019s Office investigation was launched in June after neighbors complained about the welfare of the animals.<\/p>\n

He said at that time investigators suspected livestock and other animals lacked sufficient food, water and shelter, and the owners were instructed to improve the situation.<\/p>\n

The 11-acre property includes approximately two dozen horses, burros, seven head of cattle, sheep, goats and dogs, Nowlin said.<\/p>\n

During a visit in June, the Colorado Humane Society recommended that the herd of animals be reduced to 10 or 12 animals or moved to a pasture that is appropriate for all the animals, according to Sheriff\u2019s Office reports. The humane society offered to take the animals free of charge and put them up for adoption.<\/p>\n

\"Officials
Officials with the Colorado Department of Agricutlure evaluate branding and animal health at a Road P property July 22 as part of a search warrant. State veterinarian Dan Love, right, conducted the health evaluations. The livestock were deemed to be in sufficient health and a seizure was not necessary. (Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal)<\/span>Jim Mimiaga\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

During the July 22 search, sheriff officers were accompanied by Colorado Department of Agriculture veterinarian Dan Love, Colorado brand inspectors and Colorado Humane Society field investigators.<\/p>\n

After health evaluations by the state veterinarian, it was determined a seizure of the livestock was not required. The health and living conditions of the livestock have improved since the investigation a month ago, Nowlin said in an interview at the scene.<\/p>\n

The owners were directed to provide special care to six of the horses, Nowlin said, and there will be follow-up inspections.<\/p>\n

Colorado Humane Society agents took temporary possession of the dogs which were being held at the Dumb Friends League in Denver.<\/p>\n

The next court hearing for the alleged animal cruelty charges is for a pretrial conference Sept. 7.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Citations issued for alleged animal cruelty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168,28,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-45293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86435,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45293\/revisions\/86435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45293"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=45293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}