DENVER (KDVR) — Since a puppy at an adoption event in Sheridan tested positive for rabies last month, 11 puppies have been euthanized.

The positive puppy came to Colorado from Texas and was at a July 20 puppy adoption event at Moms and Mutts Colorado, a rescue for pregnant and nursing dogs.

“We have adoption events every Saturday, and so it was a pretty normal day. It was a very slow adoption event, which in retrospect is a wonderful thing,” said Aron Jones, the rescue director.

Jones said the puppies were surrendered by their former owner who lives near Dallas, and it’s believed a dead skunk had been found on the property.

“We found out on the morning of the seventh,” Jones said. “We’ve actually gotten a lot of flak for having puppies at the adoption event, however, the puppy had tested negative for distemper, and we knew that the [skunk] remains had been sent for testing, for rabies testing, which takes less than 24 hours, and we did not receive any calls or anything.”

Jones said she learned later that the remains of the skunk had been lost in transit, which was why it took so long to find out the results.

“When we found out that the puppy was positive for rabies, I made a list of every person. We did contact tracing, so every person that I knew had come in contact with that puppy,” Jones said. “Then, we reached out to everybody and just kind of told them what the diagnosis was.”

Jessica Eden and Keith Bryk had adopted their puppy, Musubi, on July 20, and it was on Wednesday when they learned what had happened.

“The rescue contacted us and said that ‘Hey, we just got word that one of the puppies potentially has some exposure. We need you to come in. We’re going to have a vet check him out and give him his first vaccination that day as well,'” Eden said.

They were pretty hopeful things were going to be OK. The next day, Eden said they got a call from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

“They said we would have to quarantine him for 120 days. They said that since we had him for two weeks and he had been like kind of quarantined for a month, that it would go down to 90 days,” Eden said.

Then on Friday, Eden said when she was at work she received a call from Moms and Mutts Colorado saying animal control was coming to seize their dog and euthanize him immediately.

“I was furious. I was panicked,” Eden said. “I was ready to just do whatever we needed to do to protect him.”

Eden and Bryk said they wished the Colorado Department of Health had been more clear with their wording and intent.

“They have never contacted us directly about anything. We found out everything either through MAMCO or through press releases or through things being taped to our door, such as them threatening us with jail time, with thousand-dollar fines,” Eden said.

In the end, they ended up taking Musubi to the Foothills Animal Shelter where they could spend their last day with him in a calm and peaceful environment.

“As I handed off Musubi to this person who was vaccinated,” Bryk said, “Musubi licked his face. The gentleman started petting him and as he walked away, Musubi’s tail was wagging. He just loved people. He trusted us that we were handing him off to someone else.”

Jones said she is still caught in the whirlwind, making sure she covers all her bases.

“We have video of everything, we have all the resources to show accurately that no one was exposed,” she said.

Jones said this is a rare situation that could happen to any rescue, especially when dealing with puppies under 12 weeks old who are not vaccinated against rabies.

“This is a super rare, super isolated incident. There was nothing we could have done to prevent it, there was nothing we could’ve done to stop it. The important thing now is how we’re handling it and that’s by being completely transparent with the public,” Jones said.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment conducted a risk assessment and is recommending post-exposure prophylaxis, which includes a series of rabies shots, for 17 people who came in close contact with the puppies, including foster families, veterinary staff and shelter staff.

The department said it will continue to screen those who attended the event and offer post-exposure prophylaxis as needed.