Andrea Rosebrock 
The loss of 80 more lives can be chalked up to Pennsylvania’s antiquated Dog Law and the people who continue to hold up the passage of new legislation as well as the two men who actually pulled the trigger and shot and killed the doomed puppy mill dogs.
Rather than clean up and take care of their dogs, two Berks County kennel owners, Elmer Zimmerman of E&A Kennel and brother, Ammon Zimmerman of A&J Kennel, shot and killed their entire kennel population, about 80 dogs.
On July 24, after receiving poor inspection reports and told to have their dogs checked by a vet, Elmer Zimmerman shot his 70 small breed dogs and threw them on a compost pile and his brother killed 10 at about the same time.
It is legal for kennel owners to shoot their dogs in Pennsylvania!
Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff released the following statement in response to the shooting of 80 dogs at two Berks County kennels:
“The recent shooting of 80 dogs at two Berks County kennels is saddening. 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. Unfortunately, the killing of the dogs was legal under current Pennsylvania law.
“The two kennels involved have both voluntarily closed, but until our state’s outdated dog law is changed kennel owners may continue to kill their dogs for any reason they see fit, even if it is simply to save money. We can’t afford to wait any longer to pass legislation that would ban commercial kennel owners from killing their dogs.
“House Bill 2525, introduced in May, would allow only veterinarians to euthanize dogs in commercial breeding kennels. The bill would strengthen current dog laws and provide better standards for the health and safety of dogs in commercial breeding kennels without burdening other types of kennels that house dogs. The legislature has an opportunity to pass this important legislation this fall, and they should — as doing so will assure that this activity will be illegal in PA commercial breeding kennels moving forward.”
Elmer Zimmerman, owner of E & A Kennel, said Tuesday 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.”
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.” (The Olympian)
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.
The Zimmermans voluntarily surrendered their licenses on July 29 after killing the dogs and the only charges that will be faced is by Elmer Zimmerman who pleaded guilty to four charges of violating the dog law.
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.”
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
Yet another reason the new ‘Puppy Mill’ legislation needs to be passed and passed NOW!! All these hold-ups and BS by certain legislators need to end.
Read more about what some legislators are doing to HB 2525, the love overdue Puppy Mill bill – Will HB 2525 be Amended to Death?
After you read this, you will know what to do; TAKE ACTION!!
Find out what you can do HERE! Then Call, Write, Email!! Don’t let more innocents lose their lives at the hands of other heartless, cruel, money-grubbing puppy millers!!
How about if they just pu people like this away or better yet do the same to them…. people seem to be getting sicker with thier thoughts and what they to animals and to each other. Makes me wonder think what the world will be like in another 10 years….?? I’m scarred …
The amish men that shot their dogs I believe did the only thing they could do. With everyone being harassed out there and charges flying all over the place what did these inspectors think, just thank your lucky stars that its not they laying in the compost pile but I am sure it will be coming to that. If a rescue went in they would slash that all over the news, these people are very private by nature and even though I know everyone says they are doing it for the dogs, I wonder, alot of pockets are being filled by the raids and stealing of the amish”s property.
@Pat Weaver – So you’re saying that although the humane society said they would more than welcome the dogs, sick or not, it was better that these men just callously shot them dead? That just because they’re amish, they should be allowed to sit in their insulated little word and not have to follow the laws that everyone else has to follow? That’s it’s ok to abuse and neglect and have these dogs lead a life of hell?
People are not being harassed! They’re being asked, begged and pleaded with to treat these dogs, that they make their living off of, humanely. How is that too much to ask??
Stealing property?? Do you actually read some of the news stories and coverage… do you see the pictures… understand what kind of horrible shape these dogs are when they are rescued from these puppy mills. These rescues and shelters can never recoup the money they spend on the care they have to provide to these abused and neglect animals!
Sure, I’d want to be private too if I was practicing the kind of abuse they were. I wouldn’t want anyone to know that I was filling my pockets on the broken and abused bodies of defenseless animals that I didn’t give a damn about unless they could make me money.
I’m sick of the whining BS you hear from some of these people. Shut’em down!
And Pat, if you want to know the reality, just take a look at some of the ‘Puppy Mill’ stories right here on this site… check out some of the other websites devoted to ending puppy mill misery, then open your eyes!
What??!Are you kidding me??”They did the only thing they could do?”UNBELIEVABLE!!!I cannot believe this kind of paleolithic thinking is still in existence??The poor Amish guys that were “forced” to shoot 80 dogs because someone had the “audacity” to ask them to give their animals the “minimal” care expected(which isn’t much)…the animals they are profitting from and abusing???OH Come On!!!
And “Private people”??They are no more private than me!!I only come out of the woods when I absolutely have to and I RUN BACK!!That doesn’t give me the right to neglect, abuse,go out and blow 80 dogs away because the notion strikes me!!
“Stealing Amish property”???Well that “property” has nerve endings..intelligence..feelings…Medical needs….They are not machines!!!And that “property” also has people who care more about a beating heart, than a piece of green paper fighting for them!!!Call it harrassment..call it whatever you want…But this crap is wrong and more and more people are learning what goes on behind those manicured fields of the Amish..Not so “loving and compassionate”that’s for sure…
I better just stop…It is beyond me how anyone could possibly think this was a option…Let alone the “only” option…The terror the little guys must have felt…watching their kennel mates being blown away..knowing they were next….
Oh and of course, it must be someone is making money off shutting these hellholes down…That’s all that matters..Right??Money…Green paper right??It couldn’t possibly be that these creatures actually are important as a living being,and not just for their dollar value???This type of greed is nauseating…I’m off to the trees…I’m just glad the little guys are free from the pathetic,greed fueled life of neglect, loneliness, and despair of life as a “breeding machine”….Too bad they had to be blown away to escape it..