Missouri puppy mills to worsen if new bills pass, advocates say [Video]

A boxer’s ribs, hip bones and spine were easily visible from a distance while her five tiny puppies tried to find warmth from her body as they slept next to an empty food bowl.

The scene was reported by a Missouri Department of Agriculture inspector in 2022, according to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The dogs were found at Howell County’s Rocky Top K-9’S, owned by Ellen Roberts, and is one of many pet breeding facilities throughout Missouri that is still licensed in both the state and nation despite repeated inspection violations.

Similar scenes have been common throughout Missouri for decades. The state has been labeled the worst in the nation for problematic puppy mills for 11 years straight, according to the HSUS’s annual Horrible Hundred list, which categorizes problematic puppy breeding and puppy brokering facilities. …