Holiday Ann Christie, Ft. Collins Woman, Charged With 19 Counts Of Animal Cruelty Gets Charges DROPPED (UPDATE)

Holiday Ann Christie, a 56-year-old Fort Collins, Colo. woman, was arrested last week and charged with 19 counts of animal cruelty for transporting 22 different animals in the back of a rental truck. Authorities are saying now that Christie has jumped bail Wednesday after she was not able to retrieve her animals and did not make her court appearance, according to the Coloradoan.

UPDATE:

The Coloradoan reports that the animal cruelty charges have been dropped against Holiday Christie, despite the district attorney saying that all 22 animals packed in the back of Christie's U-Haul truck would most likely have died had the police not intervened.

Instead Christie was sentenced to two years probation which will include mental health evaluations, The Denver Post reports. Doctors diagnosed Christie with a tumor in a part of her brain that controls reasoning. Additionally, she will not have any contact with her animals unless approved by the court.

EARLIER:

7News reports that Christie called the court this week to let the judge know that she was a thousand miles away and would not make her court appearance. The judge issued a bench warrant for Christie’s arrest for leaving the state, a violation of her bond.

When Christie was first arrested on July 19 in Fort Collins, she had stopped for gas and was on her way to Texas from Idaho. One of her dogs escaped from the back of her moving truck and was running around the Fort Collins streets. Officers arrived, responding to a dog-at-large call, the Denver Post reports. Then, just before the officers arrived, the dog was hit by a car and died, but the police then discovered 15 other dogs, two cats and four pygmy goats in the back of her rental truck where the temperature had reached 106 degrees.

According to 9News, Christie tried to get her animals back earlier in the week, but at that time she was not allowed to see them. If Christie does not contact the Humane Society by today, Friday, the animals could be put up for adoption early next week.

Comments

[mrsnoyd]

01:21 AM on 08/27/2011

To those of you eviscerating this woman, what part of "She has a brain tumor" do you have a hard time understanding? They need to keep the animals and let her go so she can get back to running for President.

[escribacat]

08:21 PM on 08/26/2011

No more critters for this woman please! If she's got a brain tumor and can't reason, then okay, she's not such a bad guy...but no more animals. Ever.

[Jon Richards]

12:32 PM on 08/26/2011

Who keeps writing that this woman is from Fort Collins? This woman was moving her animals from Idaho to Texas when one of her dogs escaped from the back of a U-Haul truck and was killed in traffic. She was arrested in Fort Collins.

[anitaj]

05:56 PM on 08/25/2011

"Doctors have diagnosed a tumor in the part of Christie's brain that controls inhibitions and reasoning." per the Denver Post.

I hope that Ms. Christie gets the medical care that she clearly needs.

[tod47]

10:11 PM on 08/09/2011

those eyes..... she wants me

[Yorksgal]

07:15 PM on 08/01/2011

This sounds like another animal hoarder. As strange as it sounds, she is to be pitied and I hope she gets the help she needs.

[Politidelic]

01:19 PM on 08/01/2011

She looks perfectly normal in the photo.....hahaha!

[Gilbert Albright]

09:47 AM on 08/01/2011

She'll get a slap on the wrist and a small fine. People charged with animal cruelty RARELY get jail time because the courts want to preserve their jail space for people that harm people not animals.With most jails being full, they have to prioritize.

[escribacat]

08:22 PM on 08/26/2011

Too bad we can't find some hot airless sheds to lock them up in.

[srooge]

07:42 PM on 07/31/2011

I believe the whole country was in heatwave. Just another example of government trying to contol the masses. The next time it could be you.

[TazoWolf]

11:45 PM on 07/31/2011

Your comment has no logic. How does "controlling the masses" apply to someone stuffing that many animals into a rental van? anyone in their right mind knows that is NOT how you treat animals OR people, and that enclosed spaces like that can get very hot even in mild conditions (and Fort Collins was NOT overly hot on Friday).

[escribacat]

08:22 PM on 08/26/2011

Gawd.

[big polar bear]

05:59 PM on 07/31/2011

IF THIS WOMAN WAS DELIBERTATELY NEGLIGENT TO THOSE ANIMALS, THEN I WANT THEM TO LOCK HER UP AND THROW THE KEY AWAY!! HOW CAN ANYONE HURT ANIMALS!! THEY ARE GOD'S CREATURES! THEY COUNT ON US TO PROTECT THEM AND THEY DO SO MUCH TO PROTECT US!!! MAYBE HER INTENTIONS WERE NOT TO INTENTIONALLY HARM BUT COMMON SENSE MUST PREVAIL!!! HOWEVER, I AM GLAD THEY WILL BE OK AND II HOPE ALL THE ANIMALS GET A NEW HOME WITH PLENTY OF LOVE!!

[squrlknight2]

05:25 PM on 08/01/2011

WHY ARE YOU YELLING?

[big polar bear]

06:43 PM on 08/01/2011

Because I am allowed to!!

[DSevere]

05:57 PM on 07/31/2011

I think people who are cruel to animals are beyond despicable -- but this woman sounds more like an animal hoarder. That's different. It's a mental illness where the person starts out by wanting to help animals by taking them in, and then it just goes out of control, and they adopt vastly more animals than they're able to take care of.

So I don't know about criminal charges, she definitely needs psychiatric help though

[pa30]

10:13 PM on 07/30/2011

Animal hoarder.

[kareemachan]

11:20 AM on 07/30/2011

Put them up for adoption ASAP.

[kareemachan]

11:20 AM on 07/30/2011

spam

[Ty Treadwell]

03:35 PM on 07/30/2011

Spam yourself! This woman looks like a chihuahua in human form, no doubt about it.---Ty Treadwell, author of Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row

http://lastsuppersbook.blogspot.com/

[chilifan]

05:36 AM on 07/30/2011

I rarely have much sympathy for people who are cruel to animals, but after reading the story, I get a feeling that she wasn't being intentionally cruel, but just in a bad situation caused in part by lack of money. I am just glad that the animals seem to be okay now, and I hope she learns a lesson from this, at least.

[lisaman]

11:59 AM on 07/30/2011

If she doesn't have enough sense to know keeping those animals in that truck in that heat is deadly, she should not be allowed to have animals, period. Besides, she had way more than she could care for the way they deserved anyway. I feel no pity for her, only for the animals and hope they find them all the great homes they deserve.

[TazoWolf]

11:49 PM on 07/31/2011

If she truly cared for the animals and didn't have money to care for them, she'd not have them in the first place. She would have given them up to people who could properly care for them. Anyone who loves animals is aware that they don't come cheap, that one must be willing to carry the burden of feeding and housing them, cleaning up after them, and ensuring they receive proper veterinary care.