Mountaintop Natural Pets

Source: ConsumerAffairs.com, March 19, 2010

The State of Pennsylvania says it has taken action against five commercial dog breeding operations in the state, which it says were among the state’s “most notorious” puppy mills.

The Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement took the enforcement action today.

Scarlet-Maple Farm Kennel in Lancaster County, owned by Daniel P. Esh; the adjoining Twin Maple Farm Kennel in Lancaster County, owned by John E. Esh; Burkholder Farm Kennel in Berks County, owned by Aaron Burkholder; CC Pets, formerly Puppy Love, Kennel in Lancaster County, owned by Joyce Stoltzfus; and Almost Heaven Kennel in Lehigh County, owned by Derbe “Skip” Eckhart, have all been closed under the Pennsylvania Dog Law’s provisions.

“The Dog Law, signed in October 2008 by Governor Rendell, gave the bureau enforcement power to make sure kennels that do not meet the standards of the law can no longer operate in Pennsylvania,” Special Deputy Secretary for Dog Law Enforcement Jessie L. Smith said. “In signing the law, Governor Rendell raised the bar for commercial breeding kennels in Pennsylvania.”

The Commonwealth Court recently issued a ruling upholding the Department of Agriculture’s decision to refuse Aaron Burkholder’s 2009 application for a commercial kennel license. The license was revoked in 2008 and refused in 2009 because the bureau found numerous violations of the Dog Law over multiple inspections.

Later, the department provided information from inspection reports to the Humane Society of Berks County, leading to Burkholder’s animal cruelty conviction. Under the new law, a kennel license cannot be issued to someone convicted of animal cruelty.

Daniel P. Esh’s commercial kennel license was revoked in 2008 because of poor kennel conditions. During multiple inspections in 2007 and 2008, dog wardens found moldy food, poor maintenance, excessive feces, rodents and inadequate cage sizes for the dogs, among other violations.

Because of those violations, the bureau refused to grant Esh a commercial kennel license in 2009. This decision was appealed to Commonwealth Court, but the appeal was eventually withdrawn.

“Aggressive enforcement of the new dog law has contributed to closing these notorious commercial kennels and has improved the welfare of dogs in Pennsylvania,” Smith said.

Source: ABC27, October 15, 2009

East Earl Township, Pa. – A local animal rescue group says it has given more than 4,000 dogs a bright future by saving them from being put down.

Volunteers with A Tail to Tell say some breeders kill hundreds of dogs. The rescue group finds homes for unwanted animals, usually sick puppies or older dogs that can no longer breed.

“We’ve seen probably more than most people would like to see in their lives,” said the group’s founder, who did not want to be identified.

She says breeders will sometimes kill dogs by any means possible. “They were killing their dogs by hitting them over the heads with shovels and cremating them on their property and - not on purpose, but quite by accident – we stood in the fire pits and saw the little paws jetting out of the ashes.”

“Whatever the puppy miller wants to do with those dogs is what’s going to happen,” said Tammy Holroyd, who volunteers to foster puppies. “Some of them even just stop feeding them so they starve to death.”

Volunteers say they save dogs from these fates every day. They say most dogs they rescue come from Amish and Mennonite communities and that many have suffered terribly.

“They are scared to death of people because they are used to being beaten, not being fed every time. They see a person, they shy away because they don’t know what’s going to happen to them next,” Holroyd said.

Volunteers offer to pick up dogs free of charge from any breeder or kennel, but say they will not pay for any dog. “We had to walk out leaving dogs we know are dying in a puppy mill, but we refuse to put money in their hands because we’re just perpetuating everything that we dislike about puppy mills,” the group’s founder said.

“As long as the public keeps going to the puppy mills to buys dogs, keep going to puppy stores and keep buying these dogs, they are going to continue breeding,” Holroyd said.

Rescued dogs are given medical attention if needed and retrained through foster families to get them ready for their “forever home.”

“These dogs deserve more and we want them to have the best home,” Holroyd said. “We want them to be in their forever home the rest of their lives.”

A Tail to Tell is looking for foster families and people willing to adopt. They run solely on donations. They are holding a “Hogs for Dogs” rescue ride in Lancaster County on Saturday.

For more information on adopting rescued dogs, or the Hogs for Dogs Rescue Ride, visit www.atailtotell.com.