I'm glad we've made a little progress here. I still think your making light of the fact that some of the people in your group are just plain disrespectful. Maybe you can help explain to me why Lancaster County is called the puppy mill capital of the world. I have done a lot of looking into this subject and it seems as though a lot of the really horrible cases are elsewhere. I read about the awful situation in Berks county and several in Indiana, Virginia and several other places. Has there been a situation like this in this area that I'm not seeing or are we getting a bad rap? I'm aware of the farm that you protested in front of and I don't understand why the authorities don't take action if he is doing something wrong.

The following link is also something Senator Folmer has stated should be continued. As I've said before PA is known for two types of extreme animal cruelty, puppy mills and pigeon shoots. Thank you to Steve Hindi of Shark.

YouTube - GRAPHIC - Live Pigeon Shoots in PA

Sorry you felt ignored. Next yr I will have to bring a camcorder for documentation purposes. I was there to support the cause, be a part of something many of us stew about all yr long, get sick of hearing about, and the poor dogs /pups felt sorry for. Some ppl probably do get carried away in their 'empowerment' of ea other. I hope you realize that. The point really isn't about the Amish versus non amish. Its about the suffering of these dogs.

Now...back on track hopefully.

Bwah! Girl, that's what I've been trying to say all along. Fight the problem, leave the word Amish out of it and you will get a lot further.

Clearview Kennels in Ronks was horrendous although I could not see the worst of it, I saw the huge dilapidated barn the breeding stock and puppies were in. It was 95 degrees when I was there and a teenage girl from the family brought out this sickly eight week old Shih Tzu puppy that was totally filthy, already had evidence of eye problems and had none of the typical puppy animation.

This facility advertises by using decoy Amish farmers that have an AKC puppy sign on their property, you stop there and they say "we do not have puppies but our friends do and then direct you to the Clearview Kennels". Good marketing strategy for just 'plain unmodern folk" I would say.

Dateline did a one hour program in April on midwest puppy mills which are run by rednecks or disfranchised farmers with no heart or compassion. I would think the Amish who live according to the Bible would not be so heartless, cruel or indifferent. They treat the breeding stock and puppies as "livestock". At 3 other facilities that handled two to six breeds, I saw the breeding adults and they were on wire cages with "no water". It was 95 degrees.

Yet, the zoning department in Salisbury or Leacock just granted three new licenses to three Amish farmers who live within 3 miles of each other to operate breeding kennels with a capacity of up to 40 breeding dogs and 50 puppies in cramped quarters.

This has got to stop. Lancaster County is known as the puppy mill capital of the east coast. I can tell you that more and more tourists are become aware of this dark side of the Amish lifestyle and will definitely defer their tourist pursuits to other areas.

Puppy mills need to be made illegal and the plight of the breeding stock and the excess puppies being produced to be peddled to pet stores who charge exorbitant prices of poor quality, poorly socialized and genetically defective dogs has got to end.

I await some feedback from you. I sent a letter to the Salisbury Township Zoning Dept. and they sarcastically said they just "approve licenses", that I should curtail sending them anything as it just antagonizes the "zoning board" and it is something that the PA Dept. of Agriculture should be contacted about.