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 dot the 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.
Be warned ... the Amish life that is depicted for tourist is nothing like the reality. There is animal abuse among Amish in the form of puppy mills. A simple Google search for Amish puppy mills will return thousands of hits. For farmers, a big crop of dogs can gross up to $500,000 annually, with successful operations netting six figures. For critics, the 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 Amish. Holmes County, Ohio, has 470 kennels -- more than any other county in the nation.
Do you know what puppy mills are?
Puppy mills 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 chanels masquerade the truth ... they are dogs purchased from puppy mills.
These canine 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.
Do a Google on the Amish and puppy mills. Look at the pictures and read the newspaper articles that come up. Nothing has changed despite attempts to change the laws.
While the Amish landcape is 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.
We are not throwing ALL the Amish into the same category. Actions of a select few is might sound prejudiced, but hold on! The puppy-mill breeders might be just a small fraction or a very small percent of the Amish population, but the majority of 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." And the Bible itself says, in James 4:17, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
"IF" the Amish faith opposed this mass production and torture of dogs, I would hope the people would rise up and take a stand.
But 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 tourism bucks and international trade does not seem ethical to me. 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. I would say that the majority of Amish 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. We can't let their religion exempt them from humane treatment of animals!
