DENVER — Major changes could be coming to pet rescues across Colorado after a rabies outbreak in the Denver metro earlier this year.
The 2024 rabies exposure was from a litter of puppies brought in from Texas by Moms & Mutts Colorado Rescue (MAMCO).
The incubation period for rabies can be weeks. It wasn't until the puppies had already been adopted that they started showing symptoms.
The infections were reported to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), and 11 puppies were euthanized.
Pets
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"It's a universally fatal disease, so a very serious condition, which is why we work so hard in public health with vaccination strategies and other disease control strategies," said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, the state epidemiologist.
State officials said MAMCO followed the current protocols.
"I made them a contact tracing list that had every person I knew who had been in contact with the puppies. So they contacted all of those people," said MAMCO director and founder Aron Jones back in August, "We've really cooperated. We've really tried to help."
Of the 11 puppies that were euthanized, after the first confirmed rabid puppy, 10 others were negative, according to Jones.
The whole situation hit way too close to home for dog lovers Katie and Drew, who heard the news from their children's pediatrician. The couple requested that Denver7 not use their last name out of fear of retaliation for sharing their story.
"[The pediatrician] said, 'You wouldn't believe this. Another family adopted a rabid dog.' [Katie was] like, 'Yeah, that was our family.' [The pediatrician was] like, 'No, it happened again,'" said Drew.
In 2020, they adopted a 10-week-old puppy from MAMCO. Once again, the rescue had brought the dog in from out of state. The couple picked her out, renamed her Mabel and she was part of the family.
"Mabel, after three days she was starting to have some pretty massive seizures, couldn't use her back legs," said Katie.
After multiple trips to various veterinarians, Mabel was euthanized. A necropsy showed she had rabies.
"You give your kids a puppy with the most deadly disease on Earth. It makes you feel like a pretty terrible mom. Then you take the puppy away. Then you take them to get a really painful series of shots. It was really awful," Katie remembered. "The fact that this could happen twice at the same rescue, in the same place, in the same way, and create this public health crisis. It just blew our minds."
"The intent isn't to shame [MAMCO] or anything, but people need to realize this is apparently a problem. And it sounds like the state doesn't have real specific guidelines," said Drew.
"We've basically been kind of wrestling with this issue for the last six years," said Nick Fisher, program section chief of the Pet Animal Cares and Facilities Act Program (PACFA), a part of the Department of Agriculture.
PACFA is the licensing and enforcement program for animal care facilities across the state.
"If there's any complaints or anything like that against a facility, we investigate those," Fisher said.
Since humans can die from rabies, it is mandatory to report any rabies case to the CDPHE. However, the agency does not have the power to regulate or change policies at facilities with repeat cases.
"The reporting entity to us is typically going to be a laboratory. I would say it's a very rare event for us to see a case of rabies tied to a shelter," said Dr. Herlihy.
CDPHE does not track which reported rabies cases stem from animal care facilities.
As of right now, an animal care facility is not required to tell PACFA, the rule makers, if there's a rabies case at their facility. There's also no policy that penalizes facilities or requires them to change operational procedures if there are multiple rabies cases.
"Does it seem like there's a gap there?" asked Denver 7's Danielle Kreutter during an interview with PACFA.
"Yes, I think that's what we're looking at. We don't know the magnitude of [how often this happens]. This could happen frequently," said Fisher. "When we went to the stakeholders, they were all like, 'Oh, we can self-regulate.' So we've given them the opportunity to do that. Where we are now is it's really hard for this many facilities to self-police."
Even while in the hot seat, one rescue agreed.
"We've always been very upfront when there's these issues," said MAMCO CFO Robert Jones, husband of founder Aron Jones.
Robert Jones said it's been a very difficult last few months for the leaders of MAMCO. Aron Jones has been taking a break from operations.
"She has had numerous death threats and just constant harassment and bullying from the reactions from a very small group of people that have just determined that she is the cause of this entire issue," said Robert Jones.
He said MAMCO is quick to report any issue.
"We had done everything in our power and well beyond what is required by the state to try to ensure things like this don't happen. Unfortunately, sometimes your best intentions aren't enough," said Robert Jones.
He said not every rescue will risk going public with a rabies case. It's a disease that can only be proven by an additional laboratory test after a dog is euthanized.
"Rescues don't want to have that stigma of bringing in a dog that's sick or that has rabies. There's no incentive for them to tell that or get those tests done that show if it's rabies or distemper or anything else versus just saying that the dog died," Robert Jones said.
PACFA acknowledged that because symptoms for rabies and distemper can be so similar, and since it's not required of animal care facilities to test for rabies after a dog death, the data the state has is likely misleading.
"This is kind of a tip of the iceberg. The iceberg could be bigger," said Fisher.
Puppies cannot be vaccinated for rabies until they are at least 12 weeks old. After the 2024 MAMCO rabies exposure, PACFA is considering something new.
"Putting basically a moratorium on importing any animals until they're 12 weeks old," said Fisher.
The proposed rule read, "All dogs, cats and ferrets transferred into a PACFA-licensed facility from outside of Colorado must have a rabies vaccine" in addition to vaccines for parvovirus, distemper and other domestic pet diseases. CDPHE is in support.
"Vaccination prior to importation would be a way for us to decrease the risk of rabies occurring here in Colorado," said Dr. Herlihy.
MAMCO's CFO said there are instances where waiting 12 weeks for certain health issues is the best protocol for bringing in a pet from out of state, but calls a blanket ban on puppies under 12 weeks "an extreme reaction."
"Having shelters try to keep dogs for that age will just increase the number of dogs that they have to put down because they don't have the resources currently to take care of the dogs they do have," said Robert Jones, "Not allowing a dog to come in until it's been vaccinated for rabies will create an incredible strain on every other state that we as rescues are helping here in Colorado."
Katie and Drew hope that something is done to prevent other families from going through the heartbreak they did back in 2020 and for the several families who had to deal with the issue this year.
"The last thing we want is to discourage anybody from rescuing dogs. I think adopting is absolutely a great way to go," said Katie.
"To know another family went through it is pretty upsetting. Hopefully, things will not be that way in the future," said Drew.
The PACFA Advisory Committee met in mid-November and heard stakeholder feedback about the proposed rule. The proposition, as well as other newly proposed PACFA rules, will be included in a public hearing sometime in spring 2025 with the final vote on changes expected in fall 2025.
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