Poplar Bluff, a city in the Missouri Bootheel, has just over 15,000 residents. In every respect, it’s a community at a crossroads, with big ambitions for growth that are still too often constrained by a small city budget. When help is available, however, there’s no shortage of desire for action and advancement there. The city has long sought to improve its animal control division, but with limited resources, there were few opportunities to do so. This all changed on October 7th, 2024, when Poplar Bluff’s city council, accepted a grant from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and removed Missouri’s last animal euthanasia gas chamber. While it may take a few more weeks to remove and destroy the chamber, this move to end an archaic practice is a powerful signal of progress on animal welfare in our state.