DENVER—A judge ordered the Colorado Humane Society’s managers to give up control of their shelters on Tuesday after the attorney general filed a lawsuit alleging they mismanaged funds and euthanized animals to make room for more adoptable pets.
Attorney General John Suthers said the order will allow the shelters to continue operating while the case against the managers proceeds.
Suthers said the Denver-based Waverton Group, which specializes in taking over failing businesses and charities, will take control of the shelter.
Suthers spokesman Nate Strauch said Waverton’s previous experience includes a bird and raptor animal shelter.
Suthers sued the Humane Society last week, alleging that nearly a third of the animals at the society’s purported no-kill shelters were euthanized in 2004.
A message left for the shelter managers named in the suit, Robert and Mary Warren and Stephanie Gardner, was not immediately returned. Suthers said they voluntarily agreed to give up to control of the 127-year-old institution to Waverton.
Suthers’ lawsuit also accused the shelter’s managers of raising about $3 million since 2003 without proper registration as a charitable agency, mixing personal money with society funds and illegally operating a veterinary clinic.
The lawsuit said the shelters had a euthanasia rate in 2004 of 29 percent but claimed it was 8 percent—and that it was lower than other shelters—so they could raise money.
Tuesday’s order prohibits the Warrens and Gardner from withdrawing money from the society’s bank account and representing themselves as shelter officials.
