At the end of April, a routine stray dog call in Weld County turned into a full-on rescue mission. A county animal control officer tracked two loose dogs to an abandoned, fire-damaged house near Evans and found a hidden family beneath the floorboards: a mother dog and three puppies sheltering under the charred structure. Deputies pulled all five dogs to safety, and the sheriff's office later said the two adult dogs and three pups are now in the care of a local shelter.
How deputies found them
Animal control officer Chelsie Kidder had responded to a tip about the two stray dogs and followed them across neighboring property until she spotted the burned-out home. According to Denver7, Kidder used a catch net to secure one of the adult dogs, then heard faint squeaks coming from below the damaged floorboards. That sound led her to three puppies and their mother hiding underneath, where officers carefully pulled them out.
Video highlights the rescue
The tense but ultimately heartwarming operation was captured on video by CBS News Colorado. The clip shows deputies working inside the abandoned house, maneuvering around the wrecked flooring to reach the animals and gently lifting them out from below. The footage offers a close look at the fire damage and the careful, hands-on work it took to retrieve the dogs safely.
Where the animals went
According to the sheriff's office, the two adult dogs and three puppies are now safe at a local shelter and receiving care. Weld County's Animal Control unit, which serves the county's unincorporated areas, generally transports stray dogs to NOCO Humane in Evans. The unit also posts intake procedures and contact information online, including the county non-emergency dispatch number for animal concerns, through the Weld County Sheriff's Office.
Local context
This small-scale rescue ended well, but Weld County has dealt with far larger and more complicated animal welfare cases. In 2023, the Colorado Department of Agriculture's PACFA program partnered with Weld County Animal Control to remove 95 dogs from a single residence in what officials described as an animal hoarding case. That operation strained local shelter capacity and showed how state and county agencies coordinate when large numbers of animals need to be removed, according to a release from the Colorado Department of Agriculture.
