Play Media
Reported by: Rob Evans

Friday, Sep 12, 2008 @06:53am CST


An art exhibit wraps up Friday on Drury's campus. Pictures, painting, and sculptures - all hoping to bring attention to Missouri's puppy mill problem.

"A lot people see the cute dog," says Kris Hegle, a volunteer coordinator for Misery Missouri Art Exhibit. "What they don't see is the mom at the mill, hair covered, no teeth, suffering miserable existence. A lot of these animals are never taken out of their cages except to give birth. Feces, you're in bad shape. Dogs have lost their teeth, webbing on their feet because they've been walking on wires their entire lives."

Volunteer Kay Powell says the treatment of some animals is horrible. "Awful. Terrible. It's inhumane. The people who do this will do it for children, as well. It's an inhumane treatment of a living thing."

"Here's a dog with a droopy tongue," says Hegle, pointing to a picture. "He lost his teeth. In order for you to lose your teeth, this is what you see in a puppy mill." And, Hegle says, they're seeing more and more of those puppy mills. "Right now, we have three times more puppy mills than any other state."

Hegle says the state needs to do a better job of inspecting animal shelters. The animal care facilities act requires the state to inspect all facilities every year. But according to a recent audit, only 40 percent of commercial dog-breeding facilities were being inspected.
"So if you want to set up an operation that's not going to be inspected," says Hegle, "come to Missouri."

Dr. Jerry Eber is with Missouri's Department of Agriculture. He's one of those people responsible for inspecting animal facilities. "They have their interests, and their interest probably doesn't reflect the average citizen. I'm disappointed, and take umbrage we're not getting the job done because we're doing it. For the resources we have available, we have 3,000 licensees, that number is intimidating, they have to get to 250 sights a year to get their job done. I'll be the first to say we aren't getting 100 percent of them covered, but we are doing an adequate job. We focus our energy on unlicensed activity and the problem kennels."

If Missouri is the puppy mill capital, then the Ozarks is sitting on Main street. Barry County alone has 126 animal facilities registered, Wright County has 118. According to Eber, the high numbers are due to the inspection process itself.

"Missouri is the only state that has a state inspection program that this extent," says Eber. "If you call Ohio, you can't get it. Call California, they don't do this."

All in all, Eber says, the odds of extremely good that any puppy you buy in this state did not come from a so-called puppy mill.

"You can rest assured, 99 percent are from good kennels that are regulated in Missouri. If you go to the pet store in Springfield, we know where it came from, we can dig up the documents to prove it."

Tonight from 6:00-9:00 pm, event organizers are hosting a fundraising reception at Drury's art gallery.
It'll be the last chance for area residents to check out the paintings, before the event moves to Columbia.

For more information on the Missouri Alliance for Animal Legislation, visit the group's web site HERE