A northwestern North Dakota woman accused of mistreating animals has found homes for some of the 84 horses and all the 50 dogs at her farm, her attorney says.

Kim Lester, 41, was arrested and charged last Friday with two counts of maltreatment of animals at her farm, about six miles southwest of Grenora. She denies the charges, said her attorney, Shane Peterson.

Authorities said horses, dogs and poultry were confined to small spaces and had not received food or water for days. They said they found eight dead horses and three dead dogs in a pasture on the property.

Williams County State's Attorney Nicole Foster said some of the horses were so hungry they were eating their own feces.

"The conditions that these animals were living in was deplorable," Foster said.

"My client disagrees they were malnourished," Peterson said of the animals. He said she was hiring a veterinarian to back her claim.

Lester was released on a $2,000 bond, and was ordered to remove all animals from her property.

"All of the dogs are gone," Peterson said Wednesday. "All of the horses except for 21 are still on the property."

The remaining horses are being cared for by Lester and others, he said.

Lester had been given five days to find new homes for the animals. Peterson challenged Northwest District Judge Gerald Rustad's order, saying Lester had not been convicted of the charges.

"I felt it was improper to give her five days to dispose of the animals since she had not been allowed a hearing or the opportunity to defend herself," Peterson said.

Northwest District Judge David Nelson denied the challenge on Wednesday, though Lester still has some of the animals.

"My client has told me that there has been somebody on the place, feeding and watering the animals daily," Peterson said.

The dogs were given to "various individuals" and animal shelters in Minot and Mandan, Peterson said.

Sue Buchholz, the director of the Central Dakota Humane Society in Mandan, said Lester called her and asked her to take some of the dogs on Friday, the day Lester was arrested.

"We borrowed a four-horse trailer, filled it with kennels, and headed up the road," Buchholz said. "We were glad to."

Buchholz said her shelter got the final nine dogs at the farm on Monday.

"They were in poor condition. Very thin - not emaciated - but undernourished, full of fleas, anemic and terribly dirty," she said. "Each one had to have four baths because they were so filthy."

Some had wounds on their necks from being tied up to stakes in waist-high weeds. Some had their ears chewed raw by flies, she said.

Buchholz said she offered to take or buy chickens, geese and horses on the farm, but Lester refused.

"I had no idea what we'd have done with them, but that would have been a bridge we'd have had to cross," Buchholz said.

Buchholz said Lester ran a "puppy mill," the worst and largest-scale she's seen in North Dakota. She said some of the dogs her shelter rescued looked to be a year old, but a veterinarian said the dogs actually were twice that age and probably had several litters of puppies.

Peterson, the woman's attorney, said Lester raised and sold horses, and ran a "quasi-breeding operation" for dogs. He said the horses were underweight from distemper.

A rancher has donated hay and Lester has purchased more feed for the animals, Peterson said. She is slated to appear in court June 20 to enter formal pleas on the charges, which are misdemeanors.

Foster said the Williams County sheriff's department would be checking the animals daily.

Meanwhile, she said, the county has been fielding a flood of calls.

"There has been a nationwide outpouring of people willing to take these animals," she said.