Fwd: COLUMBUS DISPATCH: Amish population is growing, shifting - Ohio has had a net loss as 'plain people' seek room to expand

September 3, 2008

Dear Companion Pet Lovers ~ FARMERSTOWN, Ohio -- A new study that says the nation's Amish population is growing and on the move was no surprise to folks around here. Holmes County and the surrounding area boasts the largest concentration of Amish in the world. Researchers said this week that the Amish population worldwide has increased 85 percent in the past 16 years, but it is increasingly transient. Ohio's Amish population has grown slower than that national average, and Holmes County and its neighbors have lost a number of families. In fact, according to the researchers, Ohio has had a net loss of nearly 500 Amish families since 1992. I invite you to read the rest of the article - >

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/08/23/OHAMISH..ART_ART_08-23-08_B1_9MB44SM.html?sid=101 MARY'S NOTE: Farmerstown is home to the infamous Buckeye Dog Auctions! I find of great interest the following quote from Fannie Erb-Miller, National Editor of The Budget (a weekly newspaper based in Sugarcreek that serves Amish readers around the world): "The Amish want to be good neighbors," she said. "The locals quickly come to appreciate the Amish work ethic and are happy to see the land prosper at their hands. It's about being tolerant." It is my firm belief that if they truly wanted to be good

neighbors, they would begin by addressing the inhumane conditions and consumer fraud tied to the hundreds of dogs trapped in OH's puppy mills. And as shared by one BanOhioDogAuctions.com supporter, "How very appropriate that the horse drawn carriage is pictured in the town of Sugarcreek. That way, when the Amish family has run that beautiful animal into the ground, they won't have far to travel to dum

p him at the notorious Sugarcreek Auction. Once there, he will join the other lame and neglected horses in a killpen until he's jammed into a trailer to endure the horrific trip across the border to Mexico or Canada. There his years of hard work will be rewarded by being slaughtered for human consumption in Europe or Asia. As if their puppy mills weren't bad enough..." Mary O'Connor-ShaverCell: 614-271-8248Columbus Top Dogs (Shure Pets)http://www.columbustopdogs.com/http://www.banohiodogauctions.com/ LEGISLATIVE ALERTS: Please visit our Home page for pending legislation impacting the welfare of OH animals - http://www.columbustopdogs.com/ I donate ALL profits from the sale of our premium products and accessories to local animal protection groups! P.S. You or someone you know has requested you be added to the Columbus Top Dogs email list. If you do not want to receive emails from columbustopdogs.com, please reply and put "remove from list" in subject. Thank you!