State Auditor Claire McCaskill says the State Agriculture Department has not taken to heart her recommendations of nearly four years ago regarding commercial animal breeding facilities – in particular, dog breeding facilities. She says there are serious deficiencies in the process of handing out citations to noncompliant breeders, and deficiencies in even collecting the fines from those citations. In fact, McCaskill says the lack of oversight by the Agriculture Department has resulted in puppy mills thumbing their noses even when they were fined. Agriculture Department officials say a lack of resources has hurt their ability to properly regulate the industry. McCaskill says she hopes the new ag officials who are likely to come in with the new Blunt Administration will be able to do a better job.
