WHEN REHOMING TURNS TO KILLING

Misunderstood Dane/Mastiff (Daniff) on Death Row at Ark Valley Humane Society 

Buena Vista, CO—Echo didn’t intend to be in the spotlight, and he certainly didn’t know he would be on death row. Alone. With no other dogs around him, in the last stall at the end of a cold, cement animal shelter. For over three weeks, he lived in a kennel that wasn’t wide enough for him to lay out. On a dog bed that was half his size. Until recently, the 145-pound Dane/Mastiff (Daniff) was living a laid back dog life in Colorado with his owners, Sophia and Shawn Vrooman, when his world turned upside down.  

With the best of intentions for their big, goofy dog, the Vroomans, a young couple who started a new business that required them to work long hours away from home, approached Ark Valley Humane Society (AVHS) in Buena Vista, Colorado seeking their professional opinion about Echo and their quandary about him being lonely when they were at work for most of the day.  Were they doing Echo an injustice being away from him for so long? Was he lonely? Would he be happier with people who could spend more time and interact with him throughout the day than they could provide? The Great Dane and Mastiff breeds are very social animals with personalities known as ‘Gentle Giants’. 

They turned to Ark Valley Humane Society (AVHS) for answers. And what the shelter told them convinced them to make the worse decision.

On February 2, 2023, Sophia and Shawn arrived at Ark-Valley Humane Society in Buena Vista to discuss these options.  They had previously spoken with AVHS’s Outreach Manager, Emy Luebbering, inquiring about AVHS’s facility, adoption process, and canine training programs.  During their conversation with Luebbering, they revealed that Echo had displayed behavior that they wished they had more time to modify and inquired about canine behavioral training options.  Luebbering assured Echo’s parents that AVHS offered behavioral training programs for dogs in their care and that she would introduce them to Medical and Transfer Coordinator, Nikki (Nicole) Ritter, who was available to talk about them.

Luebbering gave the Vroomans a tour of the facility and told them about AVHS’s adoption program, which sounded promising (5-6 walks per day!).  Next, the Vroomans were introduced to Nikki Ritter, who discussed training programs that were available to dogs placed in AVHS’s care, as well as the shelter’s adoption placement process.  As part of their discussion, Sophia and Shawn emphatically stated that euthanization was absolutely not an option for them in the event that a good adoption of Echo did not materialize.  Ritter said she understood and assured Sophia and Shawn that everyone at AVHS had Echo’s best interest at heart.  She promised to the Vroomans that Echo would be returned to them if their shelter was unable to place him.

Instead of offering the Vroomans free training vouchers that AVHS made available to the community on a case-by-case basis, Luebbering and Ritter convinced the Vroomans to surrender Echo to them with the promises that their dog would be easily rehomed. The staff didn’t disclose they had had only one Great Dane in the past year through their shelter but the Vroomans were given the ‘sales pitch’ to sign the intake contract.

One of the benefits, they had been told, of working with a humane society shelter is their ability to properly vet prospective new owners so that pets don’t fall into the wrong hands where they could be abused or worse, killed.  With this in mind, and with AVHS’s assurance that Echo would be returned to them if AVHS could not find a suitable home for him, the Vroomans decided that it was in Echo’s best interest to collaborate with AVHS with the sole purpose of finding a new home for him.

As a next step, Echo was brought into the AVHS facility, giving their staff the opportunity to meet him. This is when the professionals at AVHS would evaluate Echo on his social skills. The Vroomans and Echo were ushered into a room, where Ritter interacted with Echo—she petted him and gave him treats, played with him and they laughed together.  Echo was given a ball and some toys to play with.  He was happy. He seemed to trust Ritter.  Shawn and Sophia signed the contract, said their good-byes and went home, believing that Echo was in good hands.

The following day, Friday, February 3, 2023, Sophia texted AVHS to inquire how Echo was doing. It was then that she and Shawn were surprised to learn that an incident had occurred with Echo and a staff member the day before when they had said their good-byes.  The reports keep changing and AVHS has varied their story as to what actually happened: their first claim was Echo had been surprised by a staff trainer that had tried to take off his harness. Echo gave a growl of fear and tried to back away. AVHS admits that their trainer ignored him and continued to which Echo gave a light warning nip that scratched the skin, drawing slight blood. AVHS would initially release a public statement admitting that their trainer handling Echo didn’t recognize the signs of a large dog in distress as they continued trying to put a slip leash on him. Being that Echo had never worn a choke-leash, it’s likely inexperience why the staff trainer didn’t just clip a regular leash to his harness or use a regular collar. To this very day, the Vroomans have never received an official account from AVHS as to what exactly transpired. Well, they have asked and AVHS have ignored providing a factual account. Another question, why didn’t the staff call them to let them know that Echo was having a difficult time adjusting to his new shelter surroundings, they wondered. This would have been the time to call the Vroomans back to retrieve Echo as logic dictates.

On Monday, February 6, 2023, Johny Sandoval, AVHS’s Operations Manager contacted the Vroomans, and through a combination of text messages and phone calls, explained that Echo was not adjusting well to the shelter environment and that AVHS decided that Echo was not a good candidate for adoption.  As such, he said they could take ownership of Echo and bring him back home. Of course, Sophia and Shawn immediately agreed, promising they would make all the necessary adjustments in their lives to make more time for Echo and to start behavioral training classes with him right away. Sandoval stated that he had spoken with his supervisor, who had approved returning ownership of Echo back to the Vroomans and that they could pick Echo up after he was released from the mandatory 10-day bite quarantine. The same day, Sandoval texted recommendations to Sophia for dog behavior training suggesting –Behavior Vets and Pet Behavior Support-Ark-Valley Humane Society— and explained that Sophia could apply for training vouchers offered by AVHS to dog owners.  Since AVHS had returned ownership back to the Vroomans by text messages and phone calls, Sophia applied for them right away and received approval from Luebbering that afternoon.

Then the world crashed. In a cruel twist of fate, the excitement of Sophia and Shawn reuniting with Echo was shattered. Cue the villain. Or should I say, cue the villains.

The next day, Amber Van Leuken, Executive Director of Ark Valley Humane Society, called to inform them that they couldn’t have Echo back and that he would be killed the following week. Van Leuken told them she’d scheduled killing Echo on February 14. Cue the villain, right? Who breaks a verbal and written agreement by her own staff and manager…to give someone their dog back and actually tells the owners coldly that she’s going to have Echo killed on Valentine’s Day??

Unbeknownst to anyone, including the AVHS staff that had interacted with Sophia and Shawn on AVHS’s behalf, Van Leuken and purportedly other “qualified authorities” whose names Van Leuken refused to disclose, had decided to kill Echo.  Sophia pleaded with Van Leuken to return Echo to them, to which Van Leuken responded, “I’m not going to change my mind.” Van Leuken has been working with animals since 2002 including travelling to Nepal to rescue stray dogs and give them homes but now Van Leuken had become someone much, much more darker two decades later. She stated that she had “spoken with the authorities” at the shelter, and that was that. She hung up on them. The silence crushed the Vroomans as they crumbled to the ground, in tears.

Both Sophia and Shawn tried calling back to push Van Leuken for answers—the Vroomans specifically wanted to know exactly who the authorities at Ark Valley Humane Society were that together with Van Leuken–decided to kill Echo, Van Leuken had refused to provide this information in a rather cold manner. I mean, how do you just tell someone that your staff screwed with your dog that they promised to rehome and suddenly go Jekyll and Hyde against your own staff and say she’s going to kill Echo. Heck, it was all that from a single afternoon with Echo? Van Leuken didn’t even give Echo time to adjust to the very worst day in his young life…this 4-year old dog just lost his entire family life and was now in an animal shelter surrounded by people pretending to be his best human friends while trying to force a slip leash over his head! Everyone in rescue knows to tell their adopters to follow the 3-3-3 rule. That’s to give a new adopted rescue 3 days to settle, 3 weeks to get used to things and 3 months to learn the family’s routine. AVHS, with their inexperienced staff trainers, seemed to see adoption fee dollars in trying to get Echo rehomed asap. Like it was some kind of bragging rights to be able to have a giant dog available for adoption?!! There’s so much more that my team has discovered in our research behind Echo’s intake. It’s pretty sick.

So, after Van Leuken hangs up with a coldness you’d expect from someone with a hidden agenda, Sophia and Shawn immediately called back to Ark-Valley Humane Society’s main phone, hoping to speak with someone to gain further clarification.  Despite their repeated calls, no one at AVHS answered them. It certainly appears as an act of cowardice by the shelter staff to refuse to answer the phone. The way this private animal shelter runs and it’s executive board is going to make you very upset. Somehow saving the lives of innocent dogs and cats has become just empty words as more and more people speak out.

Like anyone shocked and betrayed, the Vroomans jumped in their vehicle and rushed from their home in Salida to the shelter in Buena Vista, where they pleaded with Van Leuken and Sandoval to spare Echo’s life.  Though Sandoval seemed to want to return Echo, it was Van Leuken who stood maliciously in her decision, stating, “We are not going to change our minds.” More on the maliciousness in blogs to come. Things that Van Leuken did is going to have you calling for criminal charges of animal cruelty and aggravated animal cruelty plus allegations of lying to a government official. And yes, the entire executive board of AVHS has stood faithfully behind her. Good gosh this isn’t an animal shelter…it’s a facade for pretention and status while sacrificing the psychological well-being of an innocent dog.

Instead of taking responsibility for the mistakes Van Leuken admits her staff made in their first hours with Echo, she was without professional standard. In anger, Van Leuken insisted the Vroomans leave the building and used her personal influence and called the Buena Vista Chief of Police directly. Unbelievably, the chief took time off from his busy day and personally drove to the shelter and ordered the Vroomans that they leave the premises. The Vroomans state they did not threaten nor act intimidating. In fact, Sophia was in tears begging Van Leuken to have human decency and return Echo as agreed. But Van Leuken ordered the police chief to obey her orders. Which makes me wonder why did the chief of police show up when a regular police officer would have been as effective and an intelligent, prudent use of police resources?

To save their dog’s life, the Vroomans scrambled to hire an attorney, who helped them secure a stay against AVHS from killing Echo, filing it on February 13^th, the day before Van Leuken cruelly scheduled Echo to die on Valentine’s Day. Really…what kind of human wants to kill a dog on Valentine’s Day? I gotta send my congrats to the executive board of AVHS for their great decision on hiring Van Leuken as their executive director in 2017. There’s a ton of questionable things this blog series will cover. Unlicensed vet, refusal to allow outside assessments (no actual qualified assessment has ever been provided), ignoring two of the top Great Dane rescues in North America from adopting Echo into their programs. A pro bono lawyer for AVHS that failed to ensure Echo was safely cared for, a failed marriage, a judge that didn’t know what she was doing and had to leave the court several times to read up on basic contract law…this is the beginning story of an injustice that is representative of a shelter system that serves all the power and control in the hands of one single person; Amber Van Leuken. And then we’ll cue the rest of the villains.

Echo’s case goes before the court on February 23, 2023, when his fate was decided.   

“Companion animals are entitled to be recognized under the law as more than mere disposable property.   They are irreplaceable and should be treated as such.” 

– The Center for Animal Litigation

#SaveEcho

Read the original article here I will be adding more to this blog story.