A dog boarder who was recently arrested for alleged animal abuse in Florida has a history of unlawful animal care in Colorado, including a 2017 incident in which a dog died after escaping his Eagle shelter.
According to an arrest affidavit for Wanderlust Dogs owner Jason Hershman, three current and/or former employees of the facility told officers in Florida they had seen Hershman physically strike dogs. A fourth person said Hershman admitted to punching a dog who sustained injuries requiring surgery, and after interviewing a veterinary dental specialist, officers determined there was probable cause to arrest Hershman on a charge of aggravated animal cruelty.
In addition to the Wanderlust Dogs shelter in Florida, Hershman, 45, also owns dog-boarding facilities in Eagle and Glenwood Springs, which go by the same name.
In 2017, the Vail Daily investigated claims that Hershman was providing inadequate care out of his Eagle facility after a dog escaped his care and was later found dead of an apparent mountain lion attack.
Hershman’s facility had failed four inspections prior to the incident, and after the dog escaped, he received a $450 civil penalty for unlawful acts.
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Hershman’s Eagle shelter was found to have violated five rules; the $450 civil penalty for unlawful acts was issued on Nov. 30, 2016, and the fine was due on Dec. 22, 2016. Hershman did not pay the fine by the due date, and was notified that his annual license renewal was in jeopardy of being denied the following spring. He then paid the penalty on May 10, 2017.
The most serious violations were inadequate fencing in several areas and a lack of supervision of commingled dogs — those were the violations that allowed the dog to escape, an inspector determined — but other violations included improper food storage in several areas and furniture that was not water resistant or easily cleaned and disinfected.
In May 2017, Nick Fisher, Colorado’s Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act program administrator, said it was an unusual case because Hershman was not responsive after receiving the civil penalty for unlawful acts, which is not common among dog-care facility owners.
The Florida case
The Florida case that led to Hershman’s Dec. 17 arrest was opened in July after an animal cruelty complaint had been filed regarding a seven-month-old poodle named Cosmo.
The dog’s owner provided Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control Sgt. Gerald Cueto with a recording of a conversation with a former Wanderlust employee who said Hershman admitted to punching Cosmo after the dog bit him.
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Cueto followed up on the complaint, first interviewing a different former employee who “reported witnessing Hershman physically strike dogs in his care on numerous occasions,” according to the arrest affidavit. “(The former employee) further stated that a former employee disclosed an incident from May 8, 2025, in which Hershman punched a dog named Cosmo in the snout, causing a broken tooth and possible additional injury.”
Cueto next interviewed a current employee who found that internal communications regarding the incident with Cosmo had been deleted from the facility’s system.
Another former employee then contacted Cueto, and that person said they had personally witnessed Hershman kick a dog in the stomach. That employee also alleged that Hershman had instructed staff to kick dogs if they were fighting.
Detective Eric Zadanosky with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office then interviewed another Wanderlust employee who said they had witnessed Hershman kick a dog, as well. That employee was also with Cosmo on the day of the incident and said that on that day they heard “a loud crash followed by a dog screaming,” according to the arrest affidavit. That employee “confirmed that Cosmo was healthy and uninjured immediately before Hershman entered the room and that only Hershman was present with the dog when the injury occurred.”
That employee described Hershman as “impulsive, heavy-handed and prone to reacting angrily toward dogs.”
Zadanosky also interviewed the former employee who said Hershman admitted to punching Cosmo. That employee had responded to Cosmo immediately after the incident, finding the dog to be “bleeding heavily from the mouth, shaking and showing signs of severe distress,” and while they were “rinsing blood from Cosmo in the kitchen, Hershman admitted Cosmo attempted to bite him and he punched Cosmo as a reflexive action.”
A further interview with a veterinarian revealed that Cosmo had suffered a fractured premolar and a mandibular fracture. The veterinarian said “such injuries are consistent with blunt force trauma … Cosmo’s injuries would have required significant force,” and those injuries “were unlikely to be accidental.”
A second veterinarian — the veterinary dental specialist who treated Cosmo — said the dog had suffered blunt force trauma “such as being punched or kicked,” resulting in “significant pain, bleeding, and difficulty eating until the fracture stabilized.”
After his arrest, Hershman was released from the Palm Beach County Jail on a $5,000 bond. He has a hearing scheduled for Jan. 22. An attorney for Hershman said the incident with Cosmo was “an isolated, accidental injury with no intentional harm.”
