Update Report: Missouri’s Dirty Dozen

Late last year, researchers at The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) spent weeks poring over state and federal inspection reports, investigators’ photographs, and enforcement records to compile a list of some of the worst puppy mills in Missouri, known as “Missouri’s Dirty Dozen.” The report included direct quotes detailing horrific care violations documented in the facilities’ federal and/or state kennel inspection reports. The violations included thin-coated breeds like Italian greyhounds found shivering in the cold in temperatures as low as 9 degrees, dogs with open, oozing or bleeding sores, underweight dogs with their entire skeletal structures showing, and sick or dying puppies who had not been treated by a vet. This update follows some of those kennels to see whether they are still licensed in 2011. As detailed in this report, the majority of the “Dirty Dozen” kennels are still state-licensed to this day, indicating the ongoing need for the protections that Proposition B, The Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act, will provide