Ohio farmer accused of letting dogs live in filth

LAURELVILLE, Ohio An Amish farmer in Ohio is accused of keeping dozens of dogs in gruesome settings, including injured animals living in feces a foot deep.

He counters that his dogs were taken because of cultural differences.

WCMH reports that authorities seized 52 dogs from Jonas Beachy's property in Laurelville in October and he was charged Friday with animal cruelty.

Teresa Landon is executive director of the Ohio Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. She says authorities found "horrendous conditions" including matted, sometimes injured animals.

Beachy says he cares for his animals properly and has followed all laws. A neighbor who has known Beachy for 20 years said he believes the man is being treated unfairly.

Beachy's initial court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 27.

[tmittelstaed]

The problem here is that 3 years ago Pennsylvania passed a tough new anti-dog-breeding law. It required breeders to make many changes to ensure the health of the dogs. Since the Amish and Mennonite farmers are the largest group of dog breeders in Pennsylvania, the law hit them the most. Well apparently their response to this has been for breeders right and left to surrender their breeding licenses and breed illegally. That has killed the revenue stream from the licensing that was supposed to fund the dog wardens and other enforcement against the puppy mills.

There are a lot of people working right now on funding enforcement and Pennsylvania is starting to crack down - it looks like Ohio is starting to follow suit.

[skeezix06]

If they're going to keep animals in feces a foot deep, states need to crack down.

[AChristianVoice]

OHIO FARMER ACCUSED OF LETTING DOGS LIVE IN FILTH ....dozens of dogs in gruesome settings, including injured animals living in feces a foot deep.

FEMA ACCUSED OF LETTING PEOPLE LIVE IN FILTH
....thousands of people in gruesome settings, including injured/sick living in feces strewn buildings, without food, water & electricity....
New York & New Jersey 10 days after the storm

[skeezix06]

Several thoughts here.

Shredding the safety net that we put into place for the elderly and disabled, one of the republican and tea party's favorite themes, is not something I would consider to be christian. Neither is insisting they beg for help.

Not everyone can evacuate. Some simply are physically unable or have someone in the home who is physically unable to evacuate. Others are too frightened to leave what they know for the unknown and/or lose what little they can call their own. One of the lessons of Katrina was that people who did attempt to flee had no place to go to.

Overall, people in the 1800's tended to die at younger ages before they became as disabled as people can become today. Also back in the 1800's they didn't have highrises with windows that could not be opened.

[Meezermom1951]

The Amish are the worst puppy millers out there and their total lack of regard for the animals under their care is enough to make any decent person sick with disgust. If an animal is useful to them they get fair treatment but once that usefulness ends, forget it. They become garbage and that is how they are treated. The Amish should not be allowed to own or breed dogs or cats because of their cruelty. Closing down all puppy mills would be a great thing for a first lady to get involved in. After all, it isn't only the humans that matter.

[john92021]

why would he have 52 dogs, hope it was a puppy mill.

[hypnotoad72]

I'd hope not.

Puppy mills don't put in the proper time to make proper pets out of puppies. The result can be "food aggression", where a maltreated puppy gets defensive over its food dish when the owner wants to refill it. Maltreated puppies can also be apathetic, psychologically scarred, and all sorts of other horrible things.

Mills are in it for profiteering only. They might show the veneer of something more, but in reality they don't care.

Like diploma mills, puppy mills need to be reined in and their customers refunded every penny. Our "civilized" country tolerates too much abuse from these supply-side machinations, out only for themselves at everyone else's expense.

[OmegaWolf747]

An Amish farmer should know the Biblical passage that says, "A righteous man regards the life of his beast". In other words, a good person cares for their animals' well-being.

[lifeduringwartime]

Newsturd how was the peta meeting? I love bacon and ham or pork chop, Ribeye on the grill, Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Lamb chops good, I, I, sorry got to go. To church.