Authorities seized 28 dogs from the home of a Windsor woman in early December and led her away in handcuffs, highlighting a case of alleged animal cruelty by a self-described rescuer, as well as broader issues officials say are straining shelters in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The dogs taken from the Hastings Place home of Christina Urrutia Urena were just the latest animals formerly in her care to wind up in Sonoma County shelters, according to officials.
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The Dec. 9 action, including Urrutia’s arrest, was more drastic because of the conditions discovered in the garage and the number of affected dogs, authorities said.
Piles of feces covered the floor of the garage, where some of the dogs were found in kennels, police said. The build-up of urine and excrement was so heavy on a mattress-like cushion that it was stained black.
The dogs were immediately removed and Urrutia was taken to jail, where she was booked on suspicion of animal cruelty, possession of unlicensed dogs, operating a commercial kennel without a license and violation of probation.
Kennels are shown in the garage during a response by North Bay Animal Services, which was summoned by the Windsor Police Department to the residence in the 7000 block of Hastings Place in Windsor, Dec. 9, 2025. (North Bay Animal Services) Conditions are shown inside the garage where 28 dogs were found by police and recovered by North Bay Animal Services while responding to a Windsor Police Department request at a residence in the 7000 block of Hastings Place in Windsor, Dec. 9, 2025. (North Bay Animal Services) Show Caption1 of 2Kennels are shown in the garage during a response by North Bay Animal Services, which was summoned by the Windsor Police Department to the residence in the 7000 block of Hastings Place in Windsor, Dec. 9, 2025. (North Bay Animal Services) ExpandNorth Bay Animal Services, Windsor’s contracted animal control organization, took the dogs, including two that needed immediate medical care. The animals have been kept since then at the nonprofit’s Petaluma shelter.
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“I love them. I never in a million years would do anything to harm them, and that includes being delusional about my ability to care for them,” she told The Press Democrat. She said in 2024 she started her rescue operation, G&C’s Advocacy and Rescue Corp., in hopes of saving dogs, picking them up from shelters as far away as the Central Valley and Southern California where she said they otherwise would have been put down.
She cared for them, she said, until she found them a new home or she gave them to Sonoma County shelters.
“I really believe that they were healthy and happy, aside from one dog that had a bite on his face,” she said.
But animal control authorities said that while perhaps well intentioned, Urrutia had none of the required kennel licensing and did not appear equipped to care for the number of dogs she had, creating conditions they said forced them to take the canines from her home — the site of past complaints and numerous prior visits by animal control officers.
“It’s been an ongoing issue for quite some time,” said Brian Whipple, director of Sonoma County Animal Services, which covers unincorporated county areas, Santa Rosa and Healdsburg.
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Officials say the case comes amid a wider dilemma facing shelter operators and animal rescuers coming out of the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the boom of pet adoptions fueled a surge in pets being surrendered. Skyrocketing vet bills and the shortfall of neuter and spay procedures for millions of animals have also contributed to overwhelmed capacities at licensed facilities.
More start-up rescues are cropping up in that void, Whipple said.
In Urrutia’s case, as with others, she appears to have “a genuine wish to want to help animals,” said Mark Scott, executive director of North Bay Animal Services.
Authorities’ past contacts with Urrutia stretch back at least two years. They’ve been called on welfare checks for the dogs, about dogs escaping her property, about barking at the premises and about issues with dogs at her rescue that had injured other animals, according to Whipple and Scott.
In September, Sonoma County Animal Services filed a report with the District Attorney’s Office related to a case that began in April when a dog from Urrutia’s rescue bit its foster parent. A spokesperson for the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office said prosecutors are still reviewing the submitted information.
Urrutia said she has always attempted to do the best she could, but has faced issues with applying for kennel permits and getting everything straight for her to operate her rescue in a way that meets Windsor’s requirements.
“I don’t have a facility. I never once claimed to know all of the answers,” Urrutia said in a YouTube video posted Dec. 10, the day after she was arrested and bailed out of jail. “All I know is I wanted to help.”
Search spurs call to animal control
Windsor police showed up at the Hastings Place home Dec. 9 for a routine probation search. Police would not identify the person they sought to contact but said it was not Urrutia.
As they were scanning the premises, officers discovered “deplorable” conditions in the garage where the 28 dogs were found, said Windsor Sgt. Jeff Toney. No food bowls were located and the lone observed water source was a 5-gallon bucket filled with murky water and an unidentified floating substance.
Police summoned animal welfare authorities.
Three adult dogs and four young puppies were confined in crates, some littered with feces, according to the North Bay Animal Services report. Exposed wires stuck out from the walls, Scott said.
“Once you enter the house, the rooms look normal … somewhat clean,” Scott said. “It’s the garage that’s the problem.”
North Bay Animal Services took all of the dogs and have been caring for them since. One dog, named Butters, had a cut above his eye and on a front leg that required immediate stitches, Scott said. Another dog was missing a piece of his ear and the wound was bleeding.
North Bay Animal Services dog care coordinator Bella O’Toole scratches under the chin of Butters, a dog seized Dec. 9 from the Hastings Place home in Windsor and relocated to the shelter. Photo taken in Petaluma Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Beth Schlanker / The Press-Democrat)Dogs seized Dec. 9 from the Hastings Place home in Windsor and relocated to North Bay Animal Services shelter in Petaluma Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat)North Bay Animal Services dog care coordinator Bella O’Toole gives treats to two of the dogs seized Dec. 9 from the Hastings Place home in Windsor home and relocated to the shelter in Petaluma Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat)Show Caption1 of 3North Bay Animal Services dog care coordinator Bella O’Toole scratches under the chin of Butters, a dog seized Dec. 9 from the Hastings Place home in Windsor and relocated to the shelter. Photo taken in Petaluma Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Beth Schlanker / The Press-Democrat)ExpandAll of the other animals are being examined for diseases and illnesses. Scott said investigators were still waiting for test results.
Urrutia bailed out of jail the same day and immediately tried to get in contact with Scott to try to get her dogs back. The hearing she requested at that time to contest the animals’ impoundment took place Tuesday, when Urrutia said she was able to present her case.
“My heart is broken,” Urrutia said in an earlier interview. “They didn’t just take my dogs. They ripped out my heart.
“All that I want to do is make sure that they’re not going to be put down,” she added.
The Windsor hearing officer could take up to 30 days to issue a written decision, Scott said.
Urrutia insisted the conditions documented by authorities in the garage painted an incomplete picture of her operation because of the timing.
Though kennels are kept in the garage, the dogs sleep with her inside the home, she said, including on the night before the probation search. Also, she contended that all the dogs were in the garage at that time because a Windsor officer had asked her to confine them when they showed up. Toney, the police sergeant, said no such request was made, according to his review of records.
Officers also showed up before she’d done her regular cleaning, she said.
Usually, she wakes up about 9 or 10 a.m., has the dogs go to the backyard, wipes everything down, lets it dry and then the dogs return. The soiled bedding police had described, she said, was a pile of blankets that were by the door, ready for her to put in the washer.
“I hadn’t got a chance to do that, because I was at my mom’s the night before … and whatever reason that it didn’t get done the day before,” Urrutia said, adding that her mother was recently diagnosed with stage four lymphoma. “But every day, it is the same thing.”
Scott, with North Bay Animal Services, said to him it appeared that the mess had been there for multiple days.
“There’s serious concern there,” he said, “especially with the young unvaccinated dogs.”
Conditions are shown inside the garage where 28 dogs were found by police and recovered by North Bay Animal Services while responding to a Windsor Police Department request at a residence in the 7000 block of Hastings Place in Windsor, Dec. 9, 2025. (North Bay Animal Services) A wound is visible over the right eye of Butters, a dog taken into custody by North Bay Animal Services while responding to a Windsor Police Department request at a residence in the 7000 block of Hastings Place in Windsor, Dec. 9, 2025. (North Bay Animal Services) Show Caption1 of 2Conditions are shown inside the garage where 28 dogs were found by police and recovered by North Bay Animal Services while responding to a Windsor Police Department request at a residence in the 7000 block of Hastings Place in Windsor, Dec. 9, 2025. (North Bay Animal Services) ExpandAuthorities documented little to no dog food on hand at the home, which Urrutia claims is untrue. While she only had four bags of dog food, she said she also cooks a huge pot of chicken stew every night for the dogs. Her freezer full of chicken, she said, is not for her.
And drinking water is not normally left out, she said.
“You make sure that they have adequate water, but you don’t just let them drink as much as they want because they could actually get sick from that,” she said. If you watch Cesar Millan, she said, referencing the celebrity dog whisperer and trainer, “he says to not leave it down, that you use it as a little bit of a training tool.”
She also sought to explain Butters’ injury, saying while she was away, her partner accidentally let Butters out with another dog that is not supposed to be playing with him because the two are both toy-motivated, which can cause conflict. After the other dog was released from his kennel, he went after Butters and bit him near his eye, Urrutia said.
She said she had been treating Butters’ wound.
New case adds to history
Windsor police have filed their report from Dec. 9 with the District Attorney’s Office. North Bay Animal Services is still completing its investigation, which will require the organization to keep the dogs unless they are surrendered, Scott said.
Urrutia’s first court date is set for Tuesday.
Attending in support, she said, will be an owner of one of the dogs she rescued, a success story, she said.
Local animal services authorities say the case is just the latest in a documented history of problems with Urrutia’s keeping of and care for animals.
For Scott’s group, the contacts stretch back to 2023. They included welfare checks at the Windsor address, responses for complaints about barking and concerns about both availability of food and spaying and neutering of animals under Urrutia’s care, he said.
For the county agency, Urrutia’s work with dogs surfaced as a problem by September 2024, and escalated in the spring of 2025.
The agency responded in April to a report about eight puppies and a mother dog that had bitten her foster parent. The mom and litter were initially transferred from San Bernardino’s municipal shelter to Urrutia, and then to the foster parent. A county animal services officer went to Urrutia’s home and noted numerous dogs on hand during that visit, when she gave up legal claim to the puppies and the mother dog, which all wound up with the county shelter.
Later in April, Urrutia inquired about getting the surrendered dogs back, a request that required her to pass an inspection, according to Wyatt. In that process, upon visiting her address, officers noted about 30 dogs in the garage and “unsanitary conditions,” which led to a failed inspection.
Windsor police and North Bay Animal Services were contacted, according to Whipple and Scott. The mother dog was later put down.
Scott said he remembered being contacted about the case and pulling together information to help county animal control with its report to prosecutors. On a follow-up welfare check conducted April 22 by North Bay Animal Services, an officer noted that the “quantity of dogs increased” — no figure was provided — and they “gave warnings,” according to a report shared by Wyatt.
During multiple visits, Sonoma County Animal Services officers recorded a strong smell of ammonia and feces in the garage, which did not have good airflow. They also noted some animals with wounds, with Urrutia explaining they came from dogs getting into scuffles, Whipple said.
The county agency then filed its report this past September with the District Attorney’s Office, where the case remains under review.
Home rescue launched last year
Urrutia said she founded her rescue in June 2024, partly out of concern about operations at North Bay Animal Services, which has come under scrutiny following a highly critical civil grand jury report that documented substandard conditions and inadequate staffing at its Petaluma shelter — findings that Scott, in his limited public response at the time, attributed to a lack of resources “not a lack of commitment.” She has been outspoken in her criticism of the organization.
Four of Urrutia’s eight dogs at the time had been sent to the Petaluma shelter because she was over Windsor’s limit of four per household without further permitting. She eventually got her dogs back — after she said she called state Sen. Mike McGuire’s office.
She went forward with efforts to formalize her rescue operation, she said, because she wanted an easier way to pull dogs out of what she described as dangerous situations. She said she pursued nonprofit registration through Legal Zoom and began picking up dogs at the top of euthanasia lists at shelters in “high kill” areas from as far away as Fresno, San Bernardino and San Jose.
Generally, Sonoma County shelters do not euthanize animals due to lack of space, although transfers to other shelters can include sites that aren’t governed by “no-kill” policies, advocates point out.
Urrutia has completed training through the California Animal Welfare Association, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the American Red Cross and dedicates her entire schedule to taking care of her dogs.
All 28 dogs seized by authorities Dec. 9 belong to her, she said. Most she had rescued from shelters, she said. Some of the dogs she either hoped to find foster homes for, or were temporarily living with her due to extenuating circumstances in their foster families, she said.
She, her partner and friends volunteer to clean up and watch, train and bathe the dogs. She aims to give each one a 30-minute walk every day, she said.
She has successfully placed more than 100 dogs into long-term homes, she said.
But animal control officials say that many of her former dogs wind up in their care.
In September 2024, two puppies that authorities later determined belonged to Urrutia were dropped off at an emergency hospital as strays. Urrutia was arrested later that same month with four dogs in an RV in Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa police Sgt. Patricia Seffens, the department spokesperson, said Urrutia and another man were arrested in connection with a fight off Mendocino Avenue and she was later convicted of two misdemeanor counts.
Scott said that between his organization and Sonoma County Animal Services, about 130 dogs, including those recently seized, eventually wound up in shelters after passing through Urrutia’s doors.
Whipple, the county director, said that about 62 ended up with his agency, which is not the service provider for Windsor.
An Australian shepherd mix seized Dec. 9 from a Hastings Place home in Windsor and relocated to North Bay Animal Services shelter in Petaluma Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Beth Schlanker / The Press-Democrat)A dog seized Dec. 9 from a Hastings Place home in Windsor and relocated to North Bay Animal Services shelter in Petaluma Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Beth Schlanker / The Press-Democrat)A 6-week-old terrier/pit bull mix puppy seized Dec. 9 from a Hastings Place home in Windsor and relocated to North Bay Animal Services shelter in Petaluma Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Beth Schlanker / The Press-Democrat)Show Caption1 of 3An Australian shepherd mix seized Dec. 9 from a Hastings Place home in Windsor and relocated to North Bay Animal Services shelter in Petaluma Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2025. (Beth Schlanker / The Press-Democrat)ExpandSingular case amid wider strain
Throughout their contacts with Urrutia, animal services officers also tried to help, Whipple said, sometimes providing cleaning supplies and about 240 pounds of food.
During that time, Whipple said Urrutia in May surrendered about 20 dogs, most of which had parasites and some of which had breathing issues due to ammonia exposure or were malnourished, he said. A few days later, Urrutia said she was trying to find vet care for a sick puppy but was refused. Eventually, she got the dog to the county shelter but the puppy died just as the vet was about to provide treatment, Whipple said.
From Whipple’s perspective, earlier enforcement of the town’s rules regarding animal limits could have prevented the problem from growing, curbing the population of dogs in Urrutia’s care.
“Every time you go in and you lighten the load and take animals, she just goes back and does it again,” he said. “You need something in between to be adverse enough to not have her re-up the numbers.”
Scott, the North Bay Animal Services director, said in an emailed statement Wednesday that during prior visits at the Hastings Place home, “officers were not always able to verify the number of dogs present — at times animals were not on site, had already been removed or transferred to another jurisdiction, or no responsible party was available.”
Whipple said he is seeing more start-up rescue efforts aiming to address the wider issues of overpopulation and capacity in the shelter system, creating its own dilemma for authorities.
Scott pointed to the potential unintended consequences, especially when those rescuers are taking in dogs that aren’t good with other animals and are operating in a small space.
The answer, Whipple said, is not to start your own place. It’s to volunteer and donate at established organizations, he said.
Those considering adopting animals should only do so after considering the long-term commitment. It’s about understanding your limits and resources, Whipple said.
Urrutia has inquired about applying for permits to run a kennel.
“We’re trying to help her realize that she’s in over her head,” Whipple said. “That was part of the goal,” he said, and to do “right by the animals.”
For her part, Urrutia said she tried many times to apply for proper permitting, but ran into resistance from Windsor officials and shelters. She has tried finding other properties, and even started setting up a shelter at a spot off Shiloh Road, but they haven’t fit the permit requirements.
“It just seems like no matter what, I am not getting it right,” she said.
Scott, whose organization along with code enforcement oversees the application process for permits in Windsor, says denials can stem from zoning conflicts. He said Urrutia has inquired at least informally about an application, but he was unsure she’d ever put in a formal permit request.
Urrutia insists her actions not only spared animals but gave them the chance to be together through holiday celebrations.
“It’s moments like that that make it worth it,” she said, crying. “They were on their way to being erased … and they were having love and Christmas.”
You can reach Staff Writer Madison Smalstig at madison.smalstig@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @madi.smals.
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