Two Amish men from Clyde in Wayne County are accused of killing a litter of healthy puppies and the dog's mother.
Wayne County District Attorney Rick Healy tells 13WHAM.com that he intends to charge the men. The nine dead dogs were discovered in a compost pile.
Merlin Schmucker, who owns the dogs says he was trying to breed Australian Red Heelers, but when he couldn’t sell the dogs and they became “too big” he asked an employee to shoot them. Jonathan Eicher agreed to put the dogs down.
Australian Red Heeler
In the Amish world it’s acceptable to put dogs down. That is where Amish custom and New York law clash. New York Ag and Market Laws prevent the killing of otherwise healthy animals for no reason.
Both men now face nine counts of unjustifiably killing an animal, which is a misdemeanor.
