Puppy Mills Redux

There was a horribly depressing story in The Philadelphia Inquirer on Wednesday about two puppy mill operators who killed their entire kennel populations (between 70 and 80 dogs) rather than comply with court orders to have their dogs examined by a vet. Apparently paying for both the examinations and the treatment these examinations would have required was too expensive for these breeders to consider. So they shot the dogs.

It is legal in Pennsylvania for dog owners to put their dogs down by shooting them and since euthanasia by a vet has a price tag attached, that is the route these two breeders took. According to the Inquirer, Elmer Zimmerman, one of the breeders in question, "feared the Department of Agriculture was trying to close him down and that he destroyed the dogs on his veterinarian's recommendation." Ammon Zimmerman (no word if he is related to Elmer), said that his decision to destroy his dogs was his "business."

Needless to say the Dog Warden, Jessie Smith, who ordered that the dogs be taken to a vet, is appalled at the Zimmermans' actions. "It's horrible but it's legal," she said. "That someone would shoot 70 dogs rather than spend money to do a vet check is extremely problematic. If the definition of a puppy mill is putting profits over care of the dogs, this is a stark example of doing that."

To me, what this is, is a bone chilling example of why you should NEVER buy a puppy from a pet shop even if they tell you that they don't buy from puppy mills. Because they all do.

There are two bright lights in this story. One is the fact that both men surrendered their kennel licenses and put themselves out of business. And the second is that the state House is considering legislation requiring that dogs be euthanized only by a vet.