Following the devastating tornado that ravaged Joplin, Missouri, American Humane Association has mobilized its famed Red Star Animal Emergency Services™ team to help the animal victims there. In addition to the deployments in Missouri and Tennessee, American Humane Association has been providing emergency grants to states across the South and Midwest that have been hit by severe weather, including Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina. MORE

Missouri is going to vote on allowing horse slaughterhouses back into the State. Well, apparently Missouri is better than everyone else. Tags: Stupid legislation horse slaughter Missouri Now this is just juvenile. An activist organized an appeal in which people from around the country and the world could contact the legislators in opposition to the bill. This is very common and occurs to local, state and federal representatives. MORE

American Dog Rescue has a generous donor who is willing to give $1 to Missouri animal tornado victims for every Facebook fan up to $10,000. Will you help them reach their goal of 10,000 Facebook fans? Upon reaching this goal, Arthur E. MORE

An eastern Missouri woman is sentenced to 12 year in prison for neglecting her dogs. That's a pretty stiff sentence. The sentence for 46-year-old Tamara Lynn Benscoter of Park Hills was handed down Friday. Police in Iron Mountain were called to Benscoter's former home twice in September. Six dogs were seized. Authorities said the animals were infested with fleas and lacked adequate food and water. This was her second offense. MORE

Months after Missouri voters approved a measure that cracks down on what animal advocates say are some of the nation’s most notorious puppy mills, lawmakers are poised to repeal much of the law, saying the rules are too costly and punish legitimate dog-breeders who generate an estimated $1 billion annually in the state. puppy mills Missouri dogs advocacyThis is infuriating. Here's a link to the full story. MORE

In addition, the Missouri Emergency Response Service team will conduct large animal rescue demonstrations, and there will be food, music and other family-friendly activities. ASPCA , Joplin Humane Society to Host Weekend Adopt-a-thon for Joplin Tornado Pets. Nearly 600 cats and dogs looking for permanent homes during major pet adoption event June 25 – 26. MORE

Louis, Missouri, where Ralston Purina Company was founded more than a century ago. Christmas came early for the dog-loving community of Prescott, Arizona, today as Beneful® unleashed the $500,000 Dream Dog Park renovation of Willow Creek Dog Park. MORE

Reading Deb's post about the goslings at Poplar and getting Jenny 's request to sign a petition to save the Canada geese of Ballwin, Missouri from mass extermination reminded me how much I miss the wildlife at the neighborhood we lived in from 2002-early 2005. This is Girlie Girl. MORE

Louis, Missouri, where Ralston Purina was founded more than a century ago. - National Contest Invites Cat Owners to Create “It” Handbag of the Season -. MORE

The bizarre incident in April 2001 began when the trio of apes broke out of Mike and Connie Casey's compound, the Missouri Primate Foundation. There has been so much said about Travis the chimp this week. It's 1) a gory story with 2) the bizarre tie-in to the New York Post's inexplicable use of Travis' image in a cartoon about the stimulus package. What were they thinking?) That image was wrong on so many levels. But let's stick to the animal rights issue. MORE

Proposition 8 passed in Missouri. Tags: legislation elections Missouri arizona politics Two victories. It stops puppy mill abuses by establishing responsible standards for the proper care of dogs. Also, Proposition 109 failed in Arizona. This proposition would have given the legislature exclusive authority over wildlife issues. MORE

Despite assurances by Petland staff and on their corporate website that the company knows its breeders and deals only with those who have "the highest standards of pet care," many Petland puppies come from massive commercial breeders in Missouri and other Midwestern states, where hundreds of breeding dogs are packed into cramped, barren cages—often for their entire lives, with no socialization, exercise, or human interaction. This news story slipped by in November. MORE

20): Blake Hurst, a former hog farmer and president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, cautions that “we can’t ask the pigs what they think.” To the Editor: Re “ Don’t Presume to Know a Pig’s Mind ” (Op-Ed, Feb. But we can ask, and they can answer. Not in words, of course, but they can answer in ways that we can understand if we are paying attention. People who study pigs say they are as intelligent as a 3-year-old child, smarter even than the dogs we share our homes with. MORE