Bell, 59, surrendered about 200 rabbits last year after Jefferson County authorities made an unannounced inspection last July following a Crime Stoppers tip.
"Animal Control officers found deplorable conditions in a shed where 193 rabbits were housed. The shed was hot, 84 degrees, with little light and inadequate ventilation. The cages housing the rabbits were urine-soaked," the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office stated today in announcing the sentence.
Bell also will be subject to future unannounced welfare checks from animal control inspectors and must maintain all necessary licenses. She also will have to complete 250 hours of community service and pay a $500 fine, the District Attorney's Office.
She also is barred from profiting from public speaking about the case, prosecutors said.
A jury found Bell guilty on 35 of the 55 counts against her in January.
Bell raised and bred rabbits for a living and previously was licensed as a small animal breeder, but at the time the rabbits were removed, she did not have a license, according tot he District Attorney's Office.
Bell's lawyers and argued she ran a livestock operation, that she treated the rabbits as such, which would have mean the animal cruelty charge would not apply.
Judge Tammy Greene ruled that rabbits did not fit in the same category as "bovine, camelids, caprine, equine, ovine, porcine and poultry," according to prosecutors.
Rabbits are not included in the statutory definition, and Bell's treatment of her rabbits did not meet accepted practices.
(Denver Post - March 21, 2012)
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