DEDICATION
My sister, Joyce, (18 months younger then me) is on the left and had just turned 12. That's me on the right of my Mom. I was 14 that August of 1957. We had gone to New York City shopping for Easter clothes and I loved the dress I am wearing. It was blue and was quite the fashion in my mind. However, my mother insisted we get those infamous "topper jackets" and I hated mine and remember having a temper tantrum while shopping. As all females did in those days, we all had Easter bonnets on. I actually liked wearing Easter hats!
My Mom, Josie, (for Josephine,
but always called 'Josie' by everyone) was only
20 when I was born and her
birthday was in May, so she was about to turn
34. My Dad took the photo.
My sister died on Easter in 1981, so I think this photo is appropriate
as well.
The following poem is a tribute to my Mom and her love of all God's creatures.
You cooked our pet chicks
when they grew
You cooked the rabbit Dad
hunted
But you did not insist that
we eat the meat
That stuck with me
Lady was an outside dog
On Granny's farm
The product of breeding between
My uncle's dogs; a purebred
and a mutt
Easiest way then to get rid
of unwanted pups
Was to shoot them in the
head
Innocently I came upon the
scene
Talking my Uncle out of doing
her in
Just early into my teens
Lady was my first canine friend
Summer left and Fall arrived
Midway through in 1959
The ground began to freeze
You went out and dug post
holes
To set up a fenced run for
Lady
My Beagle mix coming into
season
I sat on a concrete block
Watching you hard at work
That stuck with me
Though confined, nature got
its way
Lady became pregnant and
had 4 pups
We kept Major a shy little
male pup
Who hid under the house
The other three were given
To McNamara the Painter
After the pups were weaned
You had Lady spayed
Major surgery in those days
Bound in tape she came home
But no more posts to dig
No more litters to give away
That stuck with me
In 1964 you went by bus
Via the Jersey Turnpike to
Newark
You had a passive nature
But chose the militant role
Demonstrating against vivisection
That stuck with me
To lead by good examples
There could be no other
Citing here a few samples
But you, my dear Mother
"The
Cottage Girl"
by Thomas Gainsborough
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.
What do you suggest?
Arleen Rooney
My letter follows:
Dear Editor:
I was on a three week vacation in June of this year to the east coast from California. I wanted to see the Amish countryside, experience a ride in an Amish buggy and do some shopping. All of these were accomplished and enjoyed. I also wanted to see something I had heard about: Amish farmers dealing with a new cash crop. It wasn't tobacco or produce but what they regard as livestock, puppies. Amish farmers in significant numbers are seeking licenses to open and operate commercial breeding kennels also known as puppy mills. There already are hundreds operating them legally and illegally.
I visited one commercial kennel in Ronks that had over 20 breeds housed in an old dilapidated barn. The puppy I saw as a potential buyer was filthy, had evidence of eye infection at only eight weeks of age and lacked any puppy animation whatsoever. The breeding dog, namely the bitches, are bred twice a year and all breeding and sales stock are forced to spend day in and day out on wire cage bottoms with little or no water.
I saw evidence at two Amish run kennels where I could see the breeding stock as well as the puppies on a 95 degree day that none of the dogs had water and two that did had about one inch of dirty water in a green slime plastic container.
There is little or no ventilation, exercise, medical or grooming attention. Long haired breeds such as Shih Tzus, Maltese, Lahsa Apso and Pekingese are never groomed and their hair coats become matted with feces and urine and they are subject to terrible eye infections.
Puppy mills are bad business for all concerned and are a strong force to end the good tourist trade Lancaster County has enjoyed because of the "quaint Amish countryside". I for one will be spreading the word among my relatives in New Jersey and Maryland about the horrors I've seen and am aware of. The Salisbury Township Zoning Board sent a snotty response to people writing them to not grant licenses to the Amish farmers to operate puppy mills.
Enough said. If you really value the tourist dollar and the animal lover dollar, you had best take an interest in steering the Amish farmers who do operate breeding kennels to select another "cash crop" and not categorize dogs as livestock which once they are used up become "deadstock". They are sold for medical research if they don't sell in the cute puppy stage or are used to replace the depleted breeding stock that are bred to exhaustion and in turn at the age of 7 or 8 years of age are also sold to medical research for $25.00.
In any of the Amish folk who operate such breeding kennels happen to read this letter, let me say this. God assigned humanity as caretakers of the creatures of the earth and you will have to account to Him for your poor representation. That's the "plain truth".
Arleen Rooney
email: corgially@mindspring.com
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