Amish men who killed dogs get jail time Merlin Schmucker — Two Amish were sent to jail and fined for the death of nine dogs in December. Town Justice Carol Heald sentenced Merlin Schmucker, 26, of 849 Burch Road, Galen, and Jonathan Eicher, 19, of 828 Gansz Road, Lyons, Wednesday to 30 days in the Wayne County Jail after the two pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges. Schmucker and Eicher were fined $500 apiece, and county District Attorney Rick Healy said they are barred from owning dogs for 15 years. State police arrested Schmucker and Eicher in January after Galen Highway Department workers found several of the dead dogs in a ditch near Schmucker’s home. In a statement to police, Schmucker said he raised the Australian red heelers — they’re also called Australian cattle dogs — in hopes of selling them. However, he could not sell the puppies and asked Eicher, his cousin, to kill them because they were getting too big. Schmucker told police he asked Eicher to kill the dogs because he couldn’t bring himself to do it. In his statement to police, Eicher said he killed eight pups and their mother with a .22-caliber rifle. At the time, Eicher said it’s an accepted Amish practice to put animals down, and he noted they did not suffer. “Even though they had no police record, I recommended jail time and the judge agreed,” Healy said. “Given the nature of shooting nine dogs like that, I think it called for a jail sentence. That kind of conduct is uncalled for."
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 23:11:22 +0000
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