An Amish man who tried to make money by breeding dogs, is
now facing charges of animal cruelty after those dogs were shot and killed.
According to Thursday's ABC 13 News, Merlin Schumacher of
Clyde, N.Y., told the authorities that he bred Australian Red Heelers, but
after the dogs produced a litter of puppies and he could not sell them, he
decided to have them all killed.
Schumacher requested that one of his employees shoot the
unwanted dogs, who had gotten "too big," and the employee, Jonathan
Eicher, made good on that request.
The Amish men, believing that it is one's right to
"put down" dogs, feel that they did nothing wrong.
Eicher told the authorities:
I thought as long as you did it out back it was okay,
He referred to the killings as the three S’s: "shoot,
shovel, and shut up."
Wayne County District Attorney Rick Healy disagrees with
the men's rationale, stating:
“They need to understand that it is illegal,”
Both men will be facing misdemeanor charges of animal
cruelty for destroying the healthy, albeit, unwanted dogs.
According to the Puppy Mill Project, Amish communities are
littered with dog farms, or "puppy mills." Some of the dog farmers
supplement their income with dog breeding, while others rely solely on income
produced by dog breeding for their livelihood.
They state:
The dogs are nothing more than puppy producing money
makers.
