Recently I wrote a post re the cruelty of the Amish Puppy Mills. An Our Echo writer took it upon herself to discredit it almost entirely, and penned a vitriolic comment almost as long as my post. I couldn't leave the post on now because it had been completely "diluted" by her remarks. The writer whose post I had used to pen my own thoughts cautioned us to check the Internet if we found her remarks incredulous. Sadly, this commentor obviously did not.
(Today I entered "Amish Puppy Mills" on my Good Search Wagon link which I click often for information to help the Romanian Dog Rescue. I am not Romanian nor is the wonderful person behind it Romanian, but she was so traumatized by the incidence of dog strays in Romania when she visited there that she knew she had to do something about it, and is collecting funds for the spay clinic she helped become a reality there. I click for information for her cause daily if I can. Sadly, I recently read a link where there is a campaign going on in Romania to round up all the stray dogs and euthanize them. Another sad case of failing to do the right thing,
and that is to round them up to alter them and find them good homes.)
The link I found is "Escape from the Amish: Amish Puppy Mills." I felt that the words of this brave Amish
young woman would be better served than any condensation I could make of her letter to Newsweek.
Here are her first three paragraphs to the editor:
"Thank you, Newsweek, for conducting an investigation into puppy mills and especially for not excluding the Amish from this investigation and report. That takes guts.
I'm Amish (non-practicing) and several months ago, an animal rights activist asked me how the Amish can treat puppies so inhumanely. Like the majority of the general public, her perception of the Amish are that they are a peaceful, nonharming society and attempt to live in harmony with nature. She spoke to various practicing Amish and couldn't get an answer that made sense as to why allowing the puppies to live in such horrible conditions is compatible with their seemingly anti-violent religious beliefs.
She spoke about one Amish guy, the kingpin of all Amish puppy mill owners, who routinely debarks the dogs he's breeding by shoving a steel pipe down their throats because he can't stand to hear them bark. No anesthetic, no nothing, Just rams a pipe, etc. down their throats. This Amish guy, in particular, is known to violate all sorts of laws. But he makes so much money that he simply pays off the fines. Apparently, no one can stop him and no one is allowed access into his mills."
Thank you so much Torah Bontrager. You said that it took "guts" for Newsweek to include this Amish cruelty in their magazine. No, I think it is you who had the guts to do so. I always admire the people who accept the truth-no matter how painful and refuse to whitewash it even if it hurts the people they love. God bless you and may He keep you on this path of truth. May you know happiness in the new life you have chosen. Maybe, somehow because of people like you, the Amish people who inflict this cruelty on innocent dogs will come to realize the inherent evil of subjecting pain to their animals in this way. They have sadly lessoned to a great degree the good opinion many of us had for the Amish people. Of course, we hope that some of them are not involved in this type of animal cruelty at all.
For anyone interested, there is a lot more material on this subject. Nothing I quoted here speaks of the horrific conditions of the poor mother dogs who spend their lives breeding in disgusting and filthy circumstances. I hope that you will go to the internet and read about this. Puppy Mills should not be supported and they would not be if we stopped buying from pet shops and on the internet which sells them. You can find even pure breds in shelters or dog rescue sites on the internet if that is what you want. Please help to stop the flow of puppies born to suffering mother dogs who, when spent, are often either killed or dumped.
