Zach Ornitz/Aspen Daily News
From left: Activists Lee Ann Vold and Bill Fabrocini have made it their goal to create change in the manner in which the Krabloonik sled dogs are cared for during the summer months. They would like to see more human interaction with the dogs and scheduled walks off their 6-foot-long tethers.
Two longtime locals are organizing an effort to change how the Krabloonik dog-sledding kennel and restaurant treats its dogs. And the operation’s longtime owner is apparently willing to listen.
The Snowmass Village-based sledding operation keeps its 260-plus dogs outdoors, chained to raised wooden planks, from May to November while their mushers are gone. Cries for reform at the kennel — which was cited for 10 violations of state law for dog breeders in May — are nothing new for Krabloonik. It has long been a source of consternation for some in the animal-friendly Aspen area, and public outcry crescendoed in 2005 when it was publicized that owner/operator Dan MacEachen was shooting dogs that were too old or weak to pull sleds. He has since disavowed the practice.
This latest effort to change Krabloonik is led by Bill Fabrocini and Lee Ann Vold. They’re organizing residents concerned about Krabloonik, and they’ve spoken to mushers across North America, along with state officials, about the dog-sledding business and how sled-dogs are treated elsewhere. They say they’ve found that standards at Krabloonik, the largest commercial sledding operation in the lower 48 states, fall below those of other mushing operations.
Their immediate goal, they say, is to get the dogs off their chains for daily exercise during the off-season, and to get more staff to care for the dogs at the kennel.
“The goal is not to get his license revoked or to run him out of town,” said Fabrocini, an orthopedist and trainer at the Aspen Club. “We want to raise the standard of care for the Krabloonik dogs year-round.”
Vold, a longtime Snowmass Village resident, said she decided to start devoting time to reforming Krabloonik after she passed the tethered dogs on her regular hike down the Ditch Trail.
“There are so many people that have expressed their passion about this issue,” she said. “And so many people who have ended up turning their heads, so nothing ever happens. But I can’t even bring myself to go to the Ditch Trail anymore and see these dogs. We need to stop turning our heads and change this business.”
Zach Ornitz/Aspen Daily News
From left: Activists Lee Ann Vold and Bill Fabrocini have made it their goal to create change in the manner in which the Krabloonik sled dogs are cared for during the summer months. They would like to see more human interaction with the dogs and scheduled walks off their 6-foot-long tethers.
The two locals are not animal rights activists or alarmists; basically, they’re just average citizens. And that’s what will make them effective, says Aspen/Pitkin County Animal Shelter owner/operator Seth Sachson.
“They’re covered because they’re nice Aspen community people,” Sachson said. “It’s not just another crazy tourist writing a letter to the papers.”
Sachson, a former musher at Krabloonik who left early in his first winter there, contacted Krabloonik’s MacEachen this week and asked if he would meet with Fabrocini and Vold about their concerns. MacEachen, who has not returned calls from this newspaper since the 2005 scandal, agreed to meet them in coming weeks.
“I told Dan that these people are not going away,” Sachson said. “I told him, ‘They’ll work with you or they will work against you. It’s your choice.’”
Sachson himself has developed a program that socializes and rehabilitates retired Krabloonik dogs at his shelter, a partnership with MacEachen in which the shelter takes dogs that would otherwise be euthanized. Leaving Krabloonik, the huskies and mixed-breeds generally cannot walk in straight lines, house train, or interact with humans the way a domesticated dog would. The working animals, who pull sleds in the winter and are tethered during the off-season, usually require several months to stand comfortably upright, Sachson said. He has adopted out 27 of them in the last three years and has seven living at the shelter.
Fabrocini and Vold launched their campaign in a letter to the editor to the Aspen Times Weekly on Aug. 10. After meeting with MacEachen, the pair plan to address Snowmass Village Town Council during public comment on Sept. 8.
The town of Snowmass Village bought the Krabloonik land and leased it to MacEachen in 2006 for $200 a month, giving the town leverage to impose higher standards of care on the dog-sled kennel, if they so choose. One term of the lease, Fabrocini points out, is that Krabloonik abide by all state laws and regulations, which it is not doing.
Snowmass Village Mayor Douglas Mercatoris said yesterday that he has no opinion of the current state of the kennel, but that he would be happy to listen to the Krabloonik crusaders at the meeting.
“The council may not act on its own, and Dan is not going to act on his own,” Fabrocini said of their prospects for changing Krabloonik, “but if enough people stand up and get behind us, there will be a change there.”
andrew@aspendailynews.com
