Echos Story
In February 2023, Sophia and Shawn Vrooman, owners of Echo, a Great Dane/Mastiff, concerned about their beloved dog’s wellbeing, turned to Ark Valley Humane Society (AVHS) in Buena Vista, Colorado for guidance. The Great Dane/Mastiff breeds are very social animals and the Vrooman’s newly launched landscape business required them to work long hours that kept them away from home and Echo for most of the day. Were they doing their beloved dog an injustice, keeping him at home without people interaction?
The young couple sought out the professional advice of AVHS. On the day of their appointment with AVHS’s Outreach Manager, Echo happened to be in the car. The Vroomans had no intention of relinquishing Echo to AVHS at the time. The shelter’s staff informed the Vroomans that they possessed the expertise to assess Echo as a candidate for rehoming, that they had training programs available from which Echo could benefit, and that their professional rehoming program included vetting services to ensure that Echo did not fall into the wrong hands.
After meeting and playing with Echo, AVHS’s staff convinced the Vroomans to sign papers that granted the shelter permission to take their dog into their care and rehome him. The Vroomans were promised if a suitable home could not be found, Echo would be returned to them.
When the Vroomans followed up with AVHS the next day to inquire about Echo, they were surprised to learn that an incident had occurred with Echo and a staff member shortly after they had said their good-byes. AVHS’s story has varied as to what actually happened. To this day, the Vroomans still don’t know what transpired. Staff informed the Vroomans that Echo would be returned to them after a state mandated 10-day quarantine period. Instead of returning Echo to the Vroomans as promised, the executive director, who has since been replaced, decided that Echo must be killed for reasons she refused to divulge.
All offers to rescue/adopt Echo at no cost to the shelter, including by the largest Great Dane rescue in the US, located in Texas, were rejected, as were offers to have him evaluated him by reputable behaviorists, specializing in large breeds.
The Vroomans were denied access to their beloved dog, who was isolated in a cage, far removed from everyone and everything, drugged on Trazodone (the drug’s not FDA approved) for the entire duration of his stay at the shelter.
Echo was killed on February 24, 2023 in spite of legal efforts by the Vroomans to save him. It was later discovered that AVHS’s executive director had colluded with a veterinarian, Ben Hill DVM, who had previously operated without a valid license and whose clinic was in the same town in which the executive director lived, 25 miles away from Ark Valley Humane Society, where Echo was kept.
Ben Hill DVM wrote a disparaging report about Echo, who he characterized as a 170 pound liability (Echo actually weighed 145 pounds), although he had never personally evaluated the dog. Ben Hill DVM’s “Statement of Support” was used by Ark Valley Humane Society to sway public opinion against a young, healthy dog who had been promised a happy future but who was killed by them instead.
