Posted on 09/14/2010 11:46:17 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
A commercial kennel owner in New York destroyed 93 dogs using a hose connected to a farm engine and pumping carbon monoxide into a makeshift "gas chamber."
David Yoder, owner of Black Diamond Acres kennel in Romulus, told a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector during a July 15 inspection that he killed the dogs to "depopulate" the kennel.
Yoder said he created an airtight chamber out of a wood whelping box (where nursing puppies are typically housed with their mothers) by fitting the opening with a metal door with a small hole for an exhaust pipe which was attached to a 3 horsepower farm engine.
Then he gassed "approximately" 78 adult dogs and 15 puppies in groups of five or six. Yoder said he left the barn during the gassing because he had a headache from the fumes. He also said he used a stethoscope to make sure the dogs had stopped breathing before burying them, according to the inspection report.
It is against federal law for a licensed kennel owner to perform their own euthanasia. The inspector, Andrea D'Ambrosio, also noted that dogs not immediately gassed likely suffered from inhaling the excess fumes.
"The manner of mass euthanasia caused potentially high levels of behavioral stress and unnecessary discomfort to all the dogs in the kennel," the report said.
Mary Anne Kowalski, a board member of the Seneca County SPCA, said she was not aware of anyone from the USDA reporting what she believes is a clear case of animal cruelty to local authorities.
The dogs were killed sometime after a June 29 inspection where Yoder had been ordered to get his dogs tested and treated for Brucellosis (after earlier tests indicated some of his dogs had the contagious disease) and before the inspector returned on July 15.
The case bears an eerie resemblance to the 2008 mass shooting at a Berks County, Pa., kennel after the owner was told to treat his dogs for flea infestation. That incident helped propel the passage of the new state dog law and the immediate prohibition of euthanasia by any means other than by a licensed veterinarian.
Romulus, located 60 miles southeast of Rochester in Seneca County, may have been the first municipality in the nation to ban puppy mills when it passed an ordinance last year outlawing commercial kennels.
Seneca County has a sizeable Amish population, and many are involved in dog breeding, Kowalski said. Yoder, who is Amish, bred poodles, Bichons, Maltese and Boston Terriers. He was allowed to continue operating his kennel in Romulus despite the ban because it was grandfathered under the new ordinance.
Kowalski, who discovered the report of the gassing on the USDA website while updating her files today, said she was stunned at what she read. "I just lost it," she said.
Kowalski said she reported the incident to the sheriff and district attorney in the hope that cruelty charges will be brought against Yoder.
"I hope these dogs did not die in vain," she said.
Since brucellosis is contagious, and as far as I know there is still not treatment that will get rid of it—it’s something I have to screen for each time before I breed a bitch, and if I ever have one that shows positive she’s done, she can never be bred. This is a big deal if a big commercial kennel gets it in their breeding stock (and it can be passed in ways other than sexual contact). So, if this were pigs or cattle we wouldn’t even be talking about this. But, because it’s dogs and we look at dogs in a different way...
Thank you. I guess I s/h read the article.
You can always tell the losers on any thread. They're the first to sling insults at those with differing points of view. Their colossal egos combined with their lack of intellect leads them to the one thing they know how to do insult people.
Yeah, and there are hundreds of millions of jihadists out there who thought 9-11 was peachy keen. I’m not sure the “lots of people in foreign counties do it” is a good justification for being cruel or breaking a law.
How is this different than the chicken famers who gassed chickens in this same manner because of bird flu fears?
The animals were diseased and had to be put down.
I don’t advocate killing puppies, and I don’t like puppie mills. I have pound dogs, myself.
But I am a rancher, and this is a ranch operation.
It’s a humane death; they go to sleep and don’t wake up because the CO binds to their red blood cells, they become intoxicated, pass out, and die. Period.
I suggest you become a vegitarian if you can’t handle your place in the food chain.
Just the facts, Ma’am.
Please go read the article. He had some dogs with a contagious disease. It was not a matter of having bred too many pups.
You have NO idea. LOL
Humaness to all animals is a sign of confidence and caring for ALL God’s creatures. I trust those who treat animals with respect and kindness to treat humans the same way, and amazingly, the research says the same thing.
The river of truth, flows between the banks of two extremes.
On the one hand, we have careless thoughtless folks who seemingly have little regard to life or the suffering of animals. On the other, exist those who would elevate animal life to par with human life or in some cases above it.
Both are grave errors.
Many times, sound minded folks, who are not on either extreme, mistake one for another who is. That is OUR error and the one upon which we need a serious and conscious effort to avoid mistaking here.
“What’s all the uproar, seems like a pretty humane way to put them down.”
It is.
The uproar is this guy is clearly an asshole and people don’t like puppy mills. Puppies are also cute.
Ergo, he’s a Nazi.
Obviously cases like this are part of the basis of the Dwight Schrute character on “The Office”.
Would you please show me how you determined his neglect in causing the infection?
It is different, statutorily. One is, in this case, unlawful. Just as you can drive 70 on the freeway, but not in a school zone.
Not necessarily.
He should have denied them food and water.
It's very peaceful and euphoric, doncha know?
It may help him to calm, if you remained calm. This is a very simple case of a man who broke the law. We can keep it there. That position is not emotional or assailable.
He didn't torture them. He did what farmers have done for thousands of years to excess livestock.
But now that we live in a country where the closest most people have come to reality is watching "Bambi," it's criminal behavior.
Gassing excess dogs and cats was and as far as I know still is performed by many county government animal shelters, so this doesn't appear to be unusual, I guess the law he broke was doing his own euthanasia. And BTW if the animals were infected with brucellosis, killing them was his only option.
I don't want to catch flies. Flies are disgusting creatures, but your analogy with some of the posters on this thread is correct.
"... The dogs were killed sometime after a June 29 inspection where Yoder had been ordered to get his dogs tested and treated for Brucellosis (after earlier tests indicated some of his dogs had the contagious disease) and before the inspector returned on July 15.
The inspector dropped by and had to order the man to get his dogs treated for Brucellosis because he neglected to do so.
It's in the story and everything.
For shame. I think Uncle Ted would have to disagree with you. LOL
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