The TRUTH About The Amish And Puppy Mills

The Amish (and Mennonite) community are known as "The Gentle People". Amish Country is known for its wonderful restaurants, craft shops and well-kept Amish farms. Beautiful fields where bearded men in wide-brimmed hats lead teams of shaggy plow horses tilling the soil. Hay fields run along rolling hills of Amish country, and the fields that sustain the simple lifestyle are mostly bare. But one crop the most important crop to some remains: PUPPIES.

When people think of the Amish, they tend to think of a people who live according to God's word and religion. The Amish life that is depicted for tourist is NOT reality. There is animal abuse among Amish in the form of puppy mills. As a matter of fact Lancaster County, PA is the Puppy Mill Capitol of the East Coast! For farmers, a big crop of dogs can gross up to $500,000 annually. The “Gentle Men” in the suspenders and bushy beards are masking a cruel form of factory farming behind the quaint and pure image of the Amish culture.

In areas of the U.S. where Amish dwell, there is a high number of puppy mills. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement lists 243 kennels in Lancaster County Pennsylvania, 98% of them owned by the Amish. Holmes County, Ohio, has 470 kennels -- more than any other county in the nation with a large percentage owned by the Amish.

If you happen to not know what Puppy Mills are, they are mass dog-breeding operations. They have been around for decades, but they continue to be a problem because unsuspecting consumers keep buying those adorable puppies in the pet store window or recently on some Internet sites and ads in local newspapers. But many times, these masquerade the truth ... they are dogs purchased from puppy mills.

These breeding facilities frequently house dogs in shockingly poor conditions, particularly for breeding stock animals who are caged and continually bred for years, without human companionship and with little hope of ever becoming part of a family. After their fertility days are over, breeding animals are commonly killed, abandoned or sold to another mill. The annual result of all this breeding is hundreds of thousands of puppies, many with behavior and/or health problems.

Daily existence for these dogs is a life of neglect, abuse, torture and suffering, and when they have outlived their usefulness, an often brutal ending! Disease, malnutrition, dehydration, sickness and death flourish in cramped filthy cages, freezing in the winter, scorching in the summer. Females bred and over-bred from their first heat cycle through every subsequent one until their bodies are so used up and broken down that death is a welcome release for them. They never know a kind word or a gentle touch. And this description barely scratches the surface of the cruelty.

While the Amish landscape has been described as among the most beautiful in the world, the puppies bred at the mills NEVER see the outside of wire cages that are usually stacked on top of each other in dark barns. 

 

To be fair, not ALL Amish are puppy mill owners but the population have chosen to ignore what is going on in their own backyards. NOTHING IS BEING DONE TO THEM! And we must remember the words of writer, political activist and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel... "to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all."

What if the Bishops of the Amish faith opposed this mass production and torture of dogs? They should make it known to all who are of the Amish community that anyone who contributes to this horror will be SHUNNED! Shunning is the calling of members who break church rules to confess before the congregation. Those who will not correct their behavior are excommunicated. Excommunicated members are shunned in order to shame the individual into returning to the church. Members may not accept anything from the shunned person like a handshake, payment or even a ride. This form of discipline is recommended by the bishop after a long process of working with the individual. Excommunicated members will be accepted back into the church if they return and confess their wrongdoing. Those in the Amish community can be shunned for something as simple as painting their barn in an unapproved color ... SURELY the act of animal cruelty deserves nothing less from their own peers.

Unfortunately, as they say, MONEY TALKS. The Amish have been allowed to continue their inhumane treatment of animals without pressure from the rest of the population because of the money that tourism brings to Amish businesses.

Most people who visit Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and Holmes County, Ohio go there to experience the Amish Culture. Yes, the Amish in general are a hard working, modest people. But ethical? NO! Hypocritical? ABSOLUTELY. Selling your religion for money and international trade is not ethical. On top of that, they have others ("the English" as they call outsiders) post on the internet for them. Isn't it amazing how these Godly people who shun the outside world have no qualms about using a third party to do what God has forbidden them from doing? It appears that the majority of the Amish people are living double lives or have double standards.

The Amish continually breed poor quality pups and keep their breeding animals in a state that defies decency. They all should be barred from dog breeding as all they breed is poor quality dogs. They get away with it because people think that religious people would never do anything bad. Their religion should not exempt them from humane treatment of animals! This MUST Be Stopped!

 

More than 400 kennel licenses are issued in Holmes County alone. Puppy sales have turned into big business! Very few are legitimate, well-kept kennels where the breeders limit the number of dogs they have, maintain their physical and mental health and, best yet, care for them like the loving pets they are. The rest are puppy mills which unbelievably have no limitations on how many dogs they can have. In Holmes County, there are puppy mills with from 75 to more than 100 dogs. How can anyone possibly give this many dogs all the care they need both physically and emotionally?

Even if these puppy mills were to give adequate physical care to their animals, what kind of quality of life do these poor dogs have? These animals are certainly lacking in love, nurturing and companionship. Isn't that the reason we have pets?

When their usefulness is gone, the dogs are dumped like garbage into the dog pound where they try to undo all the damage that has been done. Or worse, they are taken behind the barn and shot, or drowned in the family pond. Their puppies are sold as pets, but the parents of these puppies are not treated as pets. They are nothing more than livestock to the perpetrators of this disgraceful act.

This inhumane process must be stopped. The best way to stop puppy mills from continuing their abuse is for consumers to stop buying the puppies they breed. Many people think they are rescuing a puppy by buying one. Don't be fooled. You're just creating space for another puppy to be sold.

I strongly advocate adopting a dog from a local shelter or rescue. However, if you have a need to buy a dog from a breeder and you’re mind can’t be changed, NEVER buy a dog unless you can see for yourself where it was born, how the parents are kept and what condition all the dogs are in. A reputable kennel owner and breeder will never sell to a pet store, and they will willingly give you the name of their veterinarian as a reference.

Please watch the below video, but BE WARNED, there are some graphic images on the video. However, if you care anything about the problem of puppy mills, you will force yourself to watch it. This is the Amish people who own puppy mills and where that puppy you purchase from a pet store comes from.