COLUMBIA — Boone County dog breeder Melissa Sanders appeared in court Monday after animal control said it found one of the most severe animal abuse cases the county has seen in recent years.
Sanders pleaded not guilty to charges of animal abuse. Sanders faces three felony animal abuse charges and 15 misdemeanor animal abuse charges.
Sanders has a bond hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. on Thursday. Sanders is currently being held in the Boone County Jail without bond. Her attorney has submitted a motion asking that Sanders be released, according to court records.
Columbia/Boone County Animal Control supervisor Kevin Meyers confirmed that 17 live dogs were rescued from Sanders' property after deputies executed a search warrant last week. Sanders operates her German shepherd breeding and boarding business, Magnum Opus German Shepherds, from her property in Boone County. She has a prominent social media presence and has amassed more than 80,000 followers on her TikTok account, where she shared video of dogs.
Melissa Nicole Sanders
Deputies also found eight deceased dogs, along with bones and skin inside cages and kennels, Meyers said, which is corroborated by a probable cause statement written by a Boone County Sheriff's Office deputy.
"The results were kind of shocking," Meyers said. "There was a little bit of starvation and one of them actually died of strangulation most likely due to its collar being caught on a cage ..."
Meyers said a search warrant was issued after two separate dog owners reported to animal control their dogs died while in Sanders' care.
Animal control had received two earlier complaints — one in June and one in September, Meyers said. Those reports prompted welfare checks, but Meyers said animal control not find evidence at the time that supported criminal action.
In September, Sanders contacted animal control immediately after being notified of the complaint, which led officers to believe the animals had not been abandoned, Meyers said.
"The second one in September was simply that she abandoned the animals," Meyers said. "She contacted our office very quickly after getting notified of that so we didn't assume they were abandoned at that point since she was calling to follow up."
Meyers said that during the search last week, animal control expected to find aggressive adult dogs. Instead, they walked into a group of very young puppies with no adult dogs outside, Meyers said.
"There were no adult dogs outside, which was already concerning since they were young puppies and they needed an adult to produce milk," Meyers said. "It wasn't until we started searching around the property that we did find some remains that were concerning. Then we did find an open window that allowed us to see inside and then we could see the conditions were extremely bad."
Meyers said animal control is working with foster families to help manage capacity at the Central Missouri Humane Society, especially for dogs that have already been in the shelter long-term.
"This is an insanely traumatic event that they have been through," said Michelle Casey, the associate director and campaign manager at the Central Missouri Humane Society. "No living animal, being should ever go through anything like this, and no human being should ever see anything like this."
The rescued dogs are currently being held at the Central Missouri Humane Society until a disposition hearing, where a judge will determine whether the dogs will be returned to their original owners or permanently turned over to the Humane Society.
Meyers said animal control has received “many” calls from people who believe their dogs may have been at Sanders' care. Animal control is using microchips to confirm ownership.