Over 100 hundred people showed up for tonight’s candlelight vigil to remember the 80 dogs that were shot to death by Elmer and Ammon Zimmerman. We walked along Rt. 222 onto to the lane where Elmer lives. This photo was taken as Bill Smith of Mainline Rescue (www.mlar.org) (pictured below) carried 80 white chrysanthemums representing one for each dog killed. As Bill walked down the lane by himself, the crowd pictured above sang Amazing Grace. It was a heart-wrenching moment for me personally as I was unable to hold back the tears knowing those dogs were shot just yards away from where the crowd was gathered.
Jenny Stephens of the North Penn Puppymill Watch Group (www.NPPMWATCH.COM ) who organized the event along with Bill and representatives of United Against Puppy Mills (www.unitedagainstpuppymills.org) encouraged everyone to perservere with this fight to save the lives of puppymill dogs. Now more than ever it was stressed , we must talk to our legislators (www.legis.state.pa.us) to change the existing laws for puppymill dogs which will hopefully will come up this fall. Please contact your legislators today!
What happened after the vigil was a surprise to those of us who lingered to talk amongst ourselves. Who was this diminutive man walking down the lane with a police officer ~ Elmer Zimmerman himself (pictured below)?
Elmer wanted to talk with us to explain his side of the story. As you can see Elmer had his citations in his hands. We gathered around him and we had questions for him.
This was not a heated conversation but a civil discussion to try to understand why and how he could shoot 70 dogs. He explained that he was told shooting the dogs was legal and had been advised by his veterinarian, Dr. Frank Moll of Hamburg. Is this the truth? I spoke with a reporter, Amy Worden, from the Philadelphia Inquirer who said she is trying to make contact with this vet but he hasn’t returned her phone calls to substantiate Elmer’s claims.
My husband, Ed, asked him if shooting the dogs was the right decision and Elmer said “looking back now, no.” One has to question why he says this now ~ was it because of the attention it’s getting across the country or the shame it has brought on him and his brother. He repeatedly said he wants peace, he wants everyone to leave him alone. He was told that this isn’t going away right now for him.
As he walked back down the lane to his home, I had the opportunity to talk with him one-on-one with questions that were tugging at my heart. I asked him if he truly understood our point of view and why we gathered here tonight. With a bewildered look, he said he is beginning to see what he did was wrong but he was only doing what he was told by others ~ that is to kill them. Let me remind you that 39 of the dogs were in need of medical care for something as minor as flea bites and allergies and the others who were kept in a poorly run environment they were basically in good health.
I asked him point blank ( because I just can’t get past this part of the story) why did he feel it necessary to shoot his dogs instead of having them humanely euthanized? Again he said it was told to him by his vet that is was legal and suggested to him to shoot them.
I asked him if any rescue organizations offered to take his dogs. He replied no. Bill Smith and Amy Worden (Philadelphia Inquirer reporter) told me later that he was handed a card with a rescue group’s name on it but no group personally offered to take them. Let me point out that no rescue groups knew about this situation until this week and many would have gladly taken them to save these animals’ lives. But on the homepage of the Animal Rescue League’s website(www.berksarl.org) (they are contracted with Maxatawny township) they said they did personally offer to take his dogs and he refused. This doesn’t coincide with what Elmer said or what Bill and Amy, the Philadelphia Inquirer reporter who has been covering this, told me.
Elmer now had questions for me which I was glad to try and answer. He wanted to know why the current legislation allows people to shoot their dogs. That was an excellent point and I told him we are currently fighting to change the laws so this doesn’t ever happen again. Elmer surprisingly said that he hopes the new legislation does get passed.
He also wanted to know “why now” , “why was I cited when I passed my inspection in February and nothing had changed”? I couldn’t answer Elmer’s question so I sought out Bill and Amy after I finished speaking with him. I was told that previous inspectors let him pass knowing he had many violations. Now they have four new dog wardens who are actually doing their jobs and enforcing the laws that are on the books catching many puppymillers/kennel operators off guard as was the case here. Thus the statement, why now. I personally believe Elmer was caught off guard since he had passed his inspection previously and panicked. Let me also say that Elmer has been cited in the past but I don’t the severity of the situations.
Because of his willingness to talk to us and receptive to what I was saying, I asked him to be an advocate between us and other people in this “business”. I asked him to be a part of the solution and talk to his family and friends about our concerns. He nodded and said he would and our conversation ended.
As I relayed this information to Bill, he said he has heard all of this before. He doesn’t believe him because he has witnessed other puppymillers saying the same thing in court after being cited over the course of many years. Ignorance can no longer be a defense!