Did the Gov't Just Let Someone Build a Puppy Mill in PA?

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” - Shakespeare’s flowery way of saying that just because you call something by another name doesn't change the nature of that thing.The same is true for an Upper Dauphin County farmer, John Riehl, and his proposal to build a “kennel” that clearly has

all the trappings of being a puppy mill

. And now that his proposal has been approved, people in the surrounding area are livid.And rightfully so.

Puppy mills are one of the most abhorrent practices in existence.During Riehl’s meeting with the zoning board, protesters lines up outside in full dog costume, picketing and chanting “no puppy mills in our town,” - a clear message that this kind of blatant disregard for the well being of animals will not be tolerated.Riehl’s proposal to the zoning board stated that he would build a kennel that could hold up to 500 dogs on his 5 acre property, with 35 dogs breeding at a time. The zoning board did curb him a bit, saying that he would have to cut the amount of dogs breeding down to 20, line his property with trees, and come up with a realistic plan to get rid of the waste. But still...What makes this proposal sound like a puppy mill is primarily Riehl’s haphazard proposal. He wants hundreds of dogs, yet has no designs on how to clean up after them? Textbook puppy mill behavior. He plans to have 35 dogs breeding at once? If half of them carry full litters of 6 puppies to term, thats over a hundred new dogs every breeding cycle. Suddenly his plan to house 500 dogs seems a little small.What’s worse, even though Riehl’s intentions are fairly obvious, the zoning board made no steps to prevent this atrocity from taking place in their township. Far from it - they actually approved his proposal, thereby saying to everyone “as long as you keep it down over there, do whatever you want.”If you think that something needs to be done, respond in the comments below, or tweet to us at @PetPlusPlan with the hashtag #NoMorePuppyMills.

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