The former president of a New Canaan dog rescue nonprofit was arrested by Fairfield police on five counts of animal cruelty.

Heidi Lueders, who ran the pitbull-focused Bully Breed Rescue, was also charged with first-degree criminal damage to a landlord’s property by a tenant after the discovery in November of five dogs in her 37 Prince St. residence in Fairfield. Although an arrest warrant application was completed on Nov. 29, it was not immediately served because police were coordinating the terms of Lueder’s surrender.

Fairfield Police Lt. Robert Kalamaras said the dogs appeared to have been starved in captivity within Lueder’s residence. “They were still inside the crates, pretty much down to the bones,” he said in a Nov. 29 interview with WFSB-TV. “There was dog feces all over the house.”

Lueder is free on a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 29.