A Windsor woman accused of animal cruelty will not, at least for now, get back the 28 dogs officers seized last month from her home, where officials say she was running an illegal kennel with animals confined in “crowded” and “appalling” conditions.
The decision, which came earlier this month in a Windsor hearing overseen by a code official, represents the latest legal setback for Christina Urrutia Urena, who has until early February to appeal the finding.
Urrutia, 35, a self-described animal rescuer, also faces criminal charges in Sonoma County court tied to her actions over a 15-month span stretching back to September 2024. Prosecutors last month charged Urrutia with four counts of felony animal cruelty and four misdemeanor counts of permitting an animal to be in an enclosure without proper care.
The criminal case stems from reports assembled by Sonoma County Animal Services on Urrutia that began April 2025, when a dog from her rescue bit its foster parent. The county agency handed over its file to prosecutors in September and additional information was submitted by North Bay Animal Services, Windsor’s contracted provider, regarding the conditions documented by officers Dec. 9 at her home.
Show Caption
1 of 5
North Bay Animal Services was requested by Windsor police Dec. 9, 2025, to check out a home on Hastings Place. Based on the conditions observed, animal services removed 28 seized 28 dogs from the property. (North Bay Animal Services)
Expand
The case details also included a letter from a contract veterinarian, Catherine McKenzie, with Sonoma County Animal Services. McKenzie detailed the medical findings for 61 dogs surrendered by Urrutia to the animal control organization, including testing that found some of the dogs had giardia and round worms.
If there were any dogs left on the property, McKenzie wrote, “it is of my opinion that these dogs be confiscated from the property immediately and then a thorough investigation into how such a situation has been allowed to continue.”
“Several of the diseases that have been diagnosed in testing are highly contagious and some zoonotic,” McKenzie added. “This means that the longer this is allowed to continue, the more animals and people in the Town of Windsor and Sonoma County, are likely be exposed to and affected by these dogs.”
Urrutia has yet to enter a plea. Her first court appearance was Jan. 6, but she missed a subsequent date, causing Judge Laura Passaglia to issue a bench warrant for her arrest. Urrutia said her absence was due to a miscommunication on court dates. Court documents indicate she has yet to find legal representation.
“I’m not guilty,” she said. “I’m taking it to trial.”
Her case has stood out, in part, because of the number of animals seized from her Hastings Place property last month and the long history of contacts animal control and care workers have had with her extending back to 2024. They’ve responded to the address for welfare checks for dogs in her care, dogs escaping her property, barking at the premises and dogs previously at her rescue that had injured other animals.
Most of the documented visits by county animal control officials over that period align with dates included in the criminal complaint prosecutors filed last month against Urrutia.
Urrutia insists the dogs in her care “were healthy and happy,” and she rejected this week the decision in the custody hearing and the authority of the code enforcement employee who presided over that matter.
The mess officers found Dec. 9 at her home — dogs kept in the garage in “deplorable” conditions, piles of feces, no food bowls and a 5-gallon bucket filled with murky water and an unidentified floating substance, according to police — would have been cleaned up later that morning, she told the hearing officer.
The animals were not in danger and “only two were injured,” she said, according to the hearing report. She presented receipts of dog food and other animal care purchases, provided veterinary records and had multiple witnesses speak on her behalf. She also discussed a plan to move the animals to other properties that she felt would be better for the dogs.
But North Bay Animal Services, the Windsor service provider, presented the custody hearing officer with 84 photos of the dogs, 124 photos of the Hastings Place garage and side yard and other case details. The photos documented feces on the floors, two “emaciated” dogs and another dog with its head stuck in a cage, the hearing report states.
Show Caption
1 of 4
North Bay Animal Services was requested by Windsor police Dec. 9, 2025, to check out a home on Hastings Place. Based on the conditions observed, animal services removed 28 seized 28 dogs from the property. (North Bay Animal Services)
Expand
Urrutia provided “no convincing evidence demonstrating that she could provide the necessary care for the animals” that had been seized, according to the final report from the Dec. 30 hearing.
Bob Smith, the hearing officer who is also Windsor’s contract code enforcement services provider, determined the “debris and fecal matter was far from a mere lack of morning cleaning” based on the photos and an animal control officer reporting they could smell animal waste from the driveway of the home. The dogs, he wrote, were living in “crowded” and “appalling” conditions. He did not include a response on evidence presented regarding food or water.
Smith also cited the submitted test results that showed that the majority of the dogs had tested positive for internal parasites, including giardia and ringworm.
Urrutia, in an interview Wednesday, claimed that some of the dogs, which she said she pulled off kill lists at shelters in other counties, already had some of the diseases when they came into her care.
She has also accused North Bay Animal Services of targeting her because she has been outspoken against the organization and its operations. The nonprofit has come under greater scrutiny in the past year, especially after a highly critical Sonoma County civil grand jury report documented substandard conditions at its Petaluma shelter and inadequate staffing.
Urrutia founded her rescue in June 2024 partly out of those concerns, she said.
But, before its representatives were summoned again to her home Dec. 9 by Windsor officers who were first on site that day, North Bay Animal Services had not escalated its many reports about Urrutia, which stretched back over nearly two years, The Press Democrat found.
And Smith, the officer in the custody hearing, was unpersuaded that Urrutia had been wronged by the animal services agency. The group, he wrote, had reasonable grounds for taking and keep the dogs. The costs for their care are being assessed to Urrutia in the form a lien.
She has until the end of Feb. 3 to appeal the custody decision. The step requires she pay $400 to cover administrative costs.
The adult dogs remained this week at North Bay Animal Services’ Petaluma shelter, with the puppies in foster homes, said Mark Scott, the executive director.
Show Caption
1 of 4
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.
Expand
Urrutia said in an interview she would surrender the animals if officials would guarantee that they would be placed in homes. In past cases, she said, she has turned over dogs that ended up in the same shelters she had adopted them from.
“I have said that I will surrender them if they put it in writing that they will adopt them out and not kill them or send them where they will be killed,” she said.
You can reach Staff Writer Madison Smalstig at madison.smalstig@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @madi.smals.
