80 dogs shot in lieu of medical treatment
Kutztown, PA (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Jul 24, 2008
County: Berks
Charges: Summary
Disposition: Civil penalty imposed
Persons of Interest:
» Ammon H. Zimmerman, Jr.
» Elmer H. Zimmerman
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
The owners of two Maxatawny Township Amish dog kennels shot 80 dogs to death rather than comply with a state dog warden's order to seek medical treatment for some of the animals, State Secretary of Agriculture Dennis C. Wolff said Tuesday.
Although the action by the owners of A&J Kennel and E&A Kennel was legal, Wolff called it saddening and said it underscores the need to reform the state dog law.
Proposed legislation would mandate that only licensed veterinarians could euthanize dogs in commercial breeding kennels, Wolff said in a written statement.
"The decision by commercial breeders to kill healthy dogs instead of paying to seek veterinary care is alarming," he said.
Ammon H. Zimmerman Jr. and Elmer H. Zimmerman, the owners, have voluntarily surrendered their licenses and closed both kennels, which were near Kutztown.
The Zimmermans, who are brothers, did not return telephone messages Tuesday night.
Karel I. Minor, director of the Humane Society of Berks County, decried the killings.
"We would have accepted all 80 dogs, even if some were sick," Minor said.
Humane Society veterinarians would have treated the animals, but Minor acknowledged some might have been euthanized if they had been too sick to treat.
Under existing law, Minor said, the Zimmermans would have risked being charged with animal cruelty had they turned the dogs over to the humane society.
Animal cruelty charges are normally summary or misdemeanor offenses that carry a fine. Rarely, he said, are they felonies that result in jail time.
"I can't say that shooting dogs is common," Minor said. "But it's not unusual."
On July 24, state dog wardens noted several violations of kennel sanitation and maintenance at E&A Kennel, Wolff said. Wardens found fleas and fly sores on 39 dogs and ordered veterinary checks, he said.
Wardens issued four citations and planned to confirm the veterinary checks in a follow-up inspection.
On July 29, Wolff said, the wardens were notified that the owners had chosen to destroy the animals and close the kennels.
House Bill 2525, introduced in May, would strengthen current dog laws and provide better health and safety standards in commercial breeding kennels.
State Rep. Thomas R. Caltagirone, a Reading Democrat, is an advocate of reforming the dog law and a prime sponsor of an amendment to the proposed legislation.
"I'm shocked that something like this could take place," he said.
Case UpdatesUnder a full moon, more than 100 people gathered on a country road here Friday night for a somber candlelight vigil to remember 80 dogs shot to death by two Amish farmers late last month.
The farmers, Elmer Zimmerman of E&A Kennel, and his brother, Ammon Zimmerman of A&J Kennel, operated large-scale breeding kennels on adjacent properties at 15416 Kutztown Road and 201 Kohler Road, respectively.
On Friday night, Elmer Zimmerman parked a tractor across his lane to block the crowd from his property. Animal advocates representing Lancaster's United Against Puppy Mills, Main Line Animal Rescue in Chester Springs, North Penn Puppy Mill Watch in Montgomery County, New Jersey Consumers Against Pet Shop Abuse, Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and various other organizations sang "Amazing Grace" and left 80 chrysanthemums and 80 dog biscuits by Zimmerman's tractor in memory the 80 dogs shot to death by the brothers.
"These were dogs with no names. These were dogs that none of us ever knew," said Jenny Stephens of North Penn Puppy Mill Watch. "These were dogs who never knew the kindness a human hand can offer and these were dogs who died a violent and terror-filled death with no one to comfort them."
After a July 24 inspection of his kennel, Elmer Zimmerman faced several citations for poor kennel sanitation and maintenance, and was ordered to seek veterinary care for 39 of his 85 dogs.
Jessie Smith, deputy secretary of the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement, said Elmer Zimmerman told the inspecting dog warden that he planned to close his kennel, but he did not want to surrender his dogs to an animal rescue organization or shelter as the warden suggested.
Smith said Elmer Zimmerman contacted the inspecting warden several days later to say he killed 70 of his dogs.
Although Ammon Zimmerman's kennel had not been inspected and he faced no citations at the time, he also called a dog warden to say he shot 10 of his dogs and was going out of the breeding business.
The shootings shocked the well-organized world of animal advocates, as well as state officials endorsing House Bill 2525, which proposes sweeping changes to state laws governing breeder dogs who spend their lives in the state's hundreds of large-scale commercial breeding kennels.
"The decision by commercial breeders to kill healthy dogs instead of paying to repair a kennel and seek veterinary care is alarming and will likely outrage many people," state Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff said in a statement released earlier this week. "Until our state's outdated dog law is changed, kennel owners may continue to kill their dogs for any reason they see fit, even if it is simply to save money."
On Friday night, people at the vigil expressed horror at the fate of the Zimmermans' dogs. Some saw the Zimmermans' actions as a spiteful retaliation against Gov. Ed Rendell's initiative to curb the lucrative puppy mill business.
"It absolutely sucked the wind out of me when I heard," said Libby Williams of New Jersey Consumers Against Pet Shop Abuse. "Is there no end to the depravity of these people? I do think it was spite. But they did the state a favor. People are now learning the truth about the 'gentle' Plain people. And this has been in every newspaper across the country."
Howard Nelson, CEO of PSPCA, cut short his vacation by a day and drove straight to the vigil after he heard the news.
"It's not uncommon for puppy millers to shoot or drown their dogs instead of spending money on medical care," Nelson said. "There may have been some spite in this case, but I'm just calling it pure evil."
Rendell, who pushed for legislation to improve breeder dogs' living conditions in an effort to dissolve the state's reputation as a puppy mill hub, also is aware of the Zimmermans' actions.
Rendell scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. today in Philadelphia's Schuylkill River Dog Park to comment on the Zimmerman incident and the need for H.B. 2525.
"The governor is very, very upset by this," Rendell spokeswoman Teresa Candori said this week. "He is a dog lover, and he's outraged by this news. He believes this is evidence that House Bill 2525 is desperately needed."
Also reacting to the story was Stephanie Shain of the Humane Society of the United States.
"This shooting highlights the rampant problems with commercial breeding in Pennsylvania," Shain said. "This industry is in desperate need of reform and oversight."
The state may have more to lose than breeder dogs if H.B. 2525 dies.
Author, psychologist and animal welfare advocate Jana Kohl has vowed to wage war on Pennsylvania's Amish tourism industry by exposing inhumane treatment of breeder dogs by the Amish and Mennonite communities.
"Two thousand of the country's 10,000 commercial breeding kennels are owned by Amish and Mennonites," Kohl said earlier this month. "One of the ways to impact (this industry) is to shame and embarrass them by putting as many billboards and ads in as many places as possible. We can point the finger to Pennsylvania as aiding and abetting this horrific business that is nothing more than legalized torture."
On Friday night, people at the vigil called out the names of "the guilty," legislators who opposed or failed to endorse amending current dog laws. Included were Lancaster County state Reps. Dave Hickernell and Gordon Denlinger, who last year called Lancaster dog breeding "an issue of farmland preservation" and said, "There's a certain question about the removal of a person's livelihood. Should an animal enforcement officer be able to throw a person out of their occupation on a given day?"
For her part, Kohl, whose family founded Kohl's department stores, promises her clout isn't the only force behind the coming campaign.
"A lot of people with a lot of money and resources are prepared to venture into a campaign like this," she said. "It's going to be a bigger and more embarrassing campaign than people expect, and it's going to shock." | Source: Lancaster Online - Aug 18, 2008
Update posted on Aug 18, 2008 - 8:59AM |
Two Berks County kennel operators killed nearly their entire kennel population - 80 dogs - after wardens ordered veterinary exams on dozens of their animals.
After receiving a poor inspection report on July 24, Elmer Zimmerman of Kutztown shot his 70 small-breed dogs and threw them onto a compost pile on his property, according to officials with the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement. His brother, Ammon Zimmerman, who operated A & J Kennel next door, shot 10 dogs about the same time, they said.
It is legal for dog owners in the state to put a dog down by shooting it. Gov. Rendell, as part of his effort to improve kennel conditions, is seeking legislation to allow only veterinarians to euthanize commercial kennel dogs.
Elmer Zimmerman, owner of E & A Kennel, said in an interview yesterday that he feared the Department of Agriculture was trying to close him down and that he destroyed the dogs on his veterinarian's recommendation.
"They were old, and we were hearing that they don't want kennels anymore," said Zimmerman, who has held a commercial kennel license since at least 2003. "The best thing to do was get rid of them."
Ammon Zimmerman, reached yesterday by phone, told a reporter his decision to destroy his dogs was "none of your business."
Jessie Smith, the dog-law bureau's special deputy secretary, said Elmer Zimmerman told dog warden Orlando Aguirre that the dogs had been shot.
Aguirre, who had cited Zimmerman for multiple dog-law violations and ordered vet checks on 39 dogs for flea and fly bites, told him he didn't believe he had shot the dogs. Zimmerman then got out the backhoe and uncovered the bodies of dogs - among them poodles, shih tzus and cocker spaniels - that had been thrown onto the compost pile, she said.
"It's horrible, but it's legal," said Smith of the shooting.
"That someone would shoot 70 dogs rather than spend money to do a vet check is extremely problematic," she said. "If the definition of a puppy mill is putting profits over care of the dogs, this is a stark example of doing that."
Smith said Aguirre ordered Zimmerman to destroy the wooden hutches that held the dogs in order that the brothers not go back into commercial breeding.
Smith said the bureau had stepped up its enforcement of current kennel regulations in an effort to improve conditions. If they don't improve, she said, kennels should "go out of business."
Ken Brandt, lobbyist for the Pennsylvania Professional Dog Breeders Association, which represents 300 commercial kennels, said his group did not support the Zimmermans' actions.
"There are others ways to take care of the situation, like in a court," he said.
Howard Nelson, chief executive officer of Pennsylvania SPCA, called the shootings inhumane and evil and said the breeder could have easily surrendered the dogs to rescue groups.
"He could have treated the dogs with medication for $40 or $50," said Nelson. "Every humane society in the state would have taken those dogs."
Elmer Zimmerman said he felt he had no alternative because business had been so bad he couldn't "give away" his puppies, let alone his older, breeding dogs.
Both men surrendered their kennel licenses and Elmer Zimmerman pleaded guilty to four charges of violating the dog law, she said.
During the inspection on July 24, wardens found, in addition to the skin infections, 19 other violations. They issued citations for maintenance, extreme heat, insufficient bedding, and wire flooring that allowed dogs' feet to fall through.
Zimmerman said he had never had problems with wardens before. Inspection reports dating to 2006 show instances where wardens noted severe matting of dogs' fur and inadequate shelter, but no citations or formal warnings were issued.
Smith said the shootings were reason for tougher legislation, under consideration by the state House, that would require that dogs be euthanized only by a vet. | Source: Philly.Com - Aug 13, 2008
Update posted on Aug 13, 2008 - 11:18PM |
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