Woman claims her dog is one of several rescued from dog breeder charged with animal abuse
Alison Patton
COLUMBIA, Mo.
A woman claims that her German Shepherd is among the 16 dogs found alive at a Boone County dog breeders’ property, who was charged with several counts of animal abuse.
Melissa Sanders, 26, of Columbia is charged with a total of 18 counts of animal abuse, including three felonies and 15 misdemeanors.
Boone County Sheriff Deputies and Animal Control received a search warrant for Sanders’ property and business, Magnum Opus German Shepherds. Authorities found several dead dogs in various stages of decomposition and dog skulls in bags.
Wilson said her dog, Eri, was rescued and is now being held at the Central Missouri Humane Society as “evidence.”
“I am thankful that she was spared and that she is alive. She’s not in good condition, but I’m glad she is still here with us,” Wilson said.
Wilson said she and Sanders were best friends, and Sanders had co-ownership of Eri for breeding and boarding purposes. She said a friend told her authorities found several dead dogs on Sanders’ property Thursday, and she reached out to Animal Control to see if they had Eri.
“The animal control officer sighed a big sigh of relief and said she was one of the two German Shepherds found alive,” Wilson said.
Eri was “severely” starved and pregnant, Wilson said, but she was alive.
Wilson lives in the St. Louis area, and was regularly texting Sanders. She said she had no idea what Sanders was doing, and never would have trusted her with Eri had she known.
“I truly think that at one point she did care a lot about her animals. I saw it, I saw that she cared. And I don’t know what happened, if anything happened. I don’t know if she was always like this, but I’m just disgusted that I called her my friend,” Wilson said.
Wilson created a Facebook page to try to get other dog owners connected to the dogs found at Sanders’ property.
She said she also created a Google Form to help people locate their dogs that went missing or were rehomed while in Sanders’ care. Wilson told ABC 17 News she received over 20 people who are looking for their missing dog, and has 10 or fewer submissions for dogs who have been re-homed.
Wilson claims animal control has access to the Google Form as well.
Tiffany Barboud bought her dog, Fenrir, two years ago from Sanders and she said she was shocked to hear the news.
“From my experience with her, definitely would never have made me guess that something like this would happen,” Barboud said.
Barboud said Sanders was knowledgeable about dogs and didn’t suspect anything when she visited Sanders’ home two years ago.
“The house was relatively clean for having that many dogs in the house, all the dogs looked well fed, taken care of,” Barboud said. “Everything pointed towards just a good, ethical breeder. I didn’t see any warning signs.”
ABC 17 News reached out to Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services.