A Colorado dog rescue was forced to shut down and surrender all its animals after the state suspended its license. Investigators said the group failed to isolate sick and possibly rabid puppies, but the organization’s owner says that’s not true.
MAMCO, which stands for “Moms and Mutts Colorado,” is a rescue in Englewood for pregnant and nursing dogs. The organization first made headlines last summer
when 12 puppies were euthanized after one of their littermates tested positive for rabies.
CBS 
The CFO of Moms and Mutts Rescue, Rob Jones, told CBS Colorado in the past eight years they’ve been able to help save nearly 14,000 animals.
But as of this past week, their doors are now closed and they’re no longer able to connect dogs to loving families. They believe these allegations from the state are something they won’t be able to recover from.
“It’s heartbreaking and it makes me very angry that it was done in the way that it was,” said Jones.
A week after the owners of Moms and Mutts was served a suspension order by the state, the rescue is now empty.
“The heart is gone. Now it’s just a space,” said Jones. “It isn’t anything like it was, and it’s just awful.”
Moms and Mutts Rescue 
New allegations from the state’s Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act program known as PACFA, claim the rescue “failed to take precautions to prevent cross-contamination” between puppies with hookworms and possible rabies symptoms.
Jones denied those allegations, stating, “We didn’t do anything wrong.”
According to the order, the rescue received a litter of puppies from Texas in early December who were infected with hookworms.
In January, one puppy named Jag became very sick. The state claims a local veterinarian told the rescue Jag could have “rabies or distemper.”
PACFA requires animals “suspected of having a communicable disease must be isolated from other susceptible animals and the public.” PACFA claims MAMCO didn’t do that and “continued to fail to isolate Jag’s surviving littermates.”
Jag and three other puppies in his litter were eventually euthanized.
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MAMCO denied the claims and said the litter was isolated. They said the medical report from the veterinarian found Jag died from an intestinal blockage and a necropsy found no viral diseases.
“There was no rabies, there was no distemper,” said Jones.
The rescue was already on probation for 18 months for previous violations with the understanding that if they had more violations their license would be suspended immediately.
“Then last weekend, they showed up to shut us down because they used the wrong litter’s medical information and everything to say that we had broken their rules,” said Jones. “We were shocked.”
Jones added during an inspection, they accidentally provided the state with the wrong medical records, but the mistake was corrected just hours later. He claims these are the allegations the state used to shut the business down.
“They used false information on every aspect of it to suspend our license and say that we were endangering dogs, or dogs had rabies or possible infectious diseases,” said Jones. “That’s what angers us the most, it’s just unfair.”
The order also alleges that two dogs escaped from the front door when an inspection was underway.
“There was never any threat to the public, ever. We worked with the state as much as we could. There were some mishaps, but there was nothing wrong on our end and we did everything correct,” said Jones. “But because of the stigma, PACFA has paid extra attention to us.”
CBS 
In a news release, the state agency said the rescue was notified in February that they failed two inspections and for violations of the Act and “Based on the findings of the recent inspections, there is an imminent threat to the health and safety of Colorado dogs and their owners.” The agency ordered all dogs to be surrendered.
Since getting the order, the rescue has transferred nearly 90 dogs to shelters and rescues across the state.
“I still haven’t had time to process it. There’s no dogs, like, there’s no employees, and it’s, it’s hard to have that taken away through just lies,” said Jones. “Just not having any noise, or anybody, it breaks my heart.
With a now empty rescue, they’re preparing for their first hearing later this week.
Jones added this is something they won’t ever recover from.
“We realize the organization we had will never come back. Even if we do come back, it will not be the same. There’s been too much damage done by them, unfortunately,” said Jones.
A court date has been set for this Friday, March 14, to schedule a hearing date.
CBS Colorado reached out to the state for comment and they declined the request.
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