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The farmers, Elmer Zimmerman of E&A Kennel, and his brother, Ammon Zimmerman of A&J Kennel, operated large-scale breeding kennels on adjacent properties at 15416 Kutztown Road and 201 Kohler Road, respectively.
On Friday night, Elmer Zimmerman parked a tractor across his lane to block the crowd from his property. Animal advocates representing Lancaster's United Against Puppy Mills, Main Line Animal Rescue in Chester Springs, North Penn Puppy Mill Watch in Montgomery County, New Jersey Consumers Against Pet Shop Abuse, Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and various other organizations sang "Amazing Grace" and left 80 chrysanthemums and 80 dog biscuits by Zimmerman's tractor in memory the 80 dogs shot to death by the brothers.
"These were dogs with no names. These were dogs that none of us ever knew," said Jenny Stephens of North Penn Puppy Mill Watch. "These were dogs who never knew the kindness a human hand can offer and these were dogs who died a violent and terror-filled death with no one to comfort them."
After a July 24 inspection of his kennel, Elmer Zimmerman faced several citations for poor kennel sanitation and maintenance, and was ordered to seek veterinary care for 39 of his 85 dogs.
Jessie Smith, deputy secretary of the state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement, said Elmer Zimmerman told the inspecting dog warden that he planned to close his kennel, but he did not want to surrender his dogs to an animal rescue organization or shelter as the warden suggested.
Smith said Elmer Zimmerman contacted the inspecting warden several days later to say he killed 70 of his dogs.
Although Ammon Zimmerman's kennel had not been inspected and he faced no citations at the time, he also called a dog warden to say he shot 10 of his dogs and was going out of the breeding business.
The shootings shocked the well-organized world of animal advocates, as well as state officials endorsing House Bill 2525, which proposes sweeping changes to state laws governing breeder dogs who spend their lives in the state's hundreds of large-scale commercial breeding kennels."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," state Secretary of Agriculture Dennis Wolff said in a statement released earlier this week. "Until our state's outdated dog law is changed, kennel owners may continue to kill their dogs for any reason they see fit, even if it is simply to save money."
On Friday night, people at the vigil expressed horror at the fate of the Zimmermans' dogs. Some saw the Zimmermans' actions as a spiteful retaliation against Gov. Ed Rendell's initiative to curb the lucrative puppy mill business.
"It absolutely sucked the wind out of me when I heard," said Libby Williams of New Jersey Consumers Against Pet Shop Abuse. "Is there no end to the depravity of these people? I do think it was spite. But they did the state a favor. People are now learning the truth about the 'gentle' Plain people. And this has been in every newspaper across the country."
Howard Nelson, CEO of PSPCA, cut short his vacation by a day and drove straight to the vigil after he heard the news.
"It's not uncommon for puppy millers to shoot or drown their dogs instead of spending money on medical care," Nelson said. "There may have been some spite in this case, but I'm just calling it pure evil."
Rendell, who pushed for legislation to improve breeder dogs' living conditions in an effort to dissolve the state's reputation as a puppy mill hub, also is aware of the Zimmermans' actions.
Rendell scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. today in Philadelphia's Schuylkill River Dog Park to comment on the Zimmerman incident and the need for H.B. 2525.
"The governor is very, very upset by this," Rendell spokeswoman Teresa Candori said this week. "He is a dog lover, and he's outraged by this news. He believes this is evidence that House Bill 2525 is desperately needed."
(394) (200) (176) (118) (94) (67) (62) (57) (55) (37) (35) (34) (29) (28) (21) (20) (14) (8) (8) (5) (4) (3) (3) (2) (2) (2) (2)Also reacting to the story was Stephanie Shain of the Humane Society of the United States.
"This shooting highlights the rampant problems with commercial breeding in Pennsylvania," Shain said. "This industry is in desperate need of reform and oversight."
The state may have more to lose than breeder dogs if H.B. 2525 dies.
Author, psychologist and animal welfare advocate Jana Kohl has vowed to wage war on Pennsylvania's Amish tourism industry by exposing inhumane treatment of breeder dogs by the Amish and Mennonite communities.
"Two thousand of the country's 10,000 commercial breeding kennels are owned by Amish and Mennonites," Kohl said earlier this month. "One of the ways to impact (this industry) is to shame and embarrass them by putting as many billboards and ads in as many places as possible. We can point the finger to Pennsylvania as aiding and abetting this horrific business that is nothing more than legalized torture."
On Friday night, people at the vigil called out the names of "the guilty," legislators who opposed or failed to endorse amending current dog laws. Included were Lancaster County state Reps. Dave Hickernell and Gordon Denlinger, who last year called Lancaster dog breeding "an issue of farmland preservation" and said, "There's a certain question about the removal of a person's livelihood. Should an animal enforcement officer be able to throw a person out of their occupation on a given day?"
For her part, Kohl, whose family founded Kohl's department stores, promises her clout isn't the only force behind the coming campaign.
"A lot of people with a lot of money and resources are prepared to venture into a campaign like this," she said. "It's going to be a bigger and more embarrassing campaign than people expect, and it's going to shock."
E-mail: slindt@lnpnews.com
