Former Pueblo animal shelter vet has license suspended
The former veterinarian who worked for Community Animal Services of Pueblo has lost his license to practice veterinary medicine in the state of Colorado, at least for now.
This comes just a week after an investigation into Pueblo’s animal shelter caused PAWS for Life to step down as the city and county’s vendor.
Dr. Joel Brubaker, who worked at Pueblo’s animal shelter for less than three months, had his license suspended by the Colorado Board of Veterinary Medicine on Friday.
Brubaker’s suspension was due to many of the same reasons why the shelter lost its license a week ago.
According to inspection reports, Brubaker failed to record treatments for animals at the shelter and allowed sick animals to occupy the same space as healthy ones.
The report notes that Brubaker had a checkered past — that includes getting fined for fighting with pet owners and other vets, as well as allowing a woman without a license to conduct veterinary care under his supervision.
It is unclear at this time how long this suspension will last, the investigation is still pending.
As for Pueblo’s next step, the city and county are working to bring back the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, not only in a temporary 90-day limited role but also in a permanent one.
City officials are also in talks to make changes to the current Pueblo city ordinance.
“We will have an emergency ordinance that we will be implementing hopefully,” said Pueblo City Council President Dennis Flores. “We need to get every one on board in city council. I believe it will be a template for really getting everything going again, and we think it is an improvement an enhancement that takes a bad situation and makes it better.”
It is unclear how this emergency ordinance would effect the Pueblo Animal Protection Act and its required 90% save rate.
City council will vote on that emergency ordinance Monday night at city council.
Pueblo County Commissioners will work on their own rules in regards to the animal shelter.
