No Puppy Mills Allowed

The town council of Canajoharie, New York, has denied the request of a local Amish family to own and operate a puppy mill. The community interest in the proposal was intense and approximately 70 showed up for the meeting, forcing the council to move the meeting from the town hall to a larger venue at the firehouse.

By a large majority, residents were passionately against allowing a puppy mill, which was proposed by a member of an Amish family, who did not attend the meeting.

Sherry Pederquist of Good Shepherd K-9 Rescue agued, “If anyone has it in their heart to say, ‘We want that in our community. Let’s be cruel to these animals,’ please wake up. It’s the last thing we want.”

The term “puppy mill” carries a negative image because of horror stories reported in the mainstream media. Sauquoit, NY, resident Sandra Raciti, notes, “They are so coated in feces and urine that you can pull their fur off in one sheet, leaving exposed burned flesh from urine.”

Dog rescuer Cindy McCoy points out, “Every year, retail pet stores across America sell 500,000 dogs, while five to seven million dogs enter the shelters. Of these, three to four million shelter dogs every year are killed.”

Another resident says, “They’re not concerned about the unaware consumer receiving a genetically defective dog. They are simply and frankly concerned with making a quick and dirty dollar at the dogs’ expense.”

“None of this should exist in nature. Every one of these dogs has been wronged from birth – from before birth, from the day these money hungry and callus humans decide to make themselves God of a careless creation,” said Eric Bellows of Pack Ethic Rescue.

Two representatives of the Amish community attended and said they thought many of the stories related were hyperbole. They also equated raising puppies to dairy farming—somebody needs to breed the animals that for which there is a consumer demand.

In the end, acknowledging community sentiment, the town council voted down the proposal, to the cheers of those attending.

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