LancasterOnline.com
1 kennel owner guilty, 1 heads to court
Ronks father, son charged with dog abuse

By SUSAN E. LINDT, Staff
Intelligencer Journal
Published: Feb 02, 2008 12:37 AM EST
LANCASTER COUNTY, PA -

Father-and-son kennel owners faced a district justice Thursday after both
were charged with state dog-law violations at their large-scale breeding
kennels in Ronks.

John E. Esh, owner of Twin Maple Farm, 68 Clearview Road, Ronks, and his
son, Daniel P. Esh, owner of Scarlet-Maple Farm Kennel at a property adjacent to his father's kennel, both had hearings Thursday before District Justice Isaac Stoltzfus.

John Esh pleaded guilty to five summary counts for poor maintenance and
inhumane and unsanitary kennel conditions. Stoltzfus fined the elder Esh $300 per violation.

Attorney Cory J. Miller, who represented Esh and his son, negotiated a deal
with Assistant District Attorney Christine L. Wilson on behalf of John Esh,
who agreed to plead guilty in exchange for having the more serious misdemeanor counts lowered to summary offenses.

Daniel Esh did not negotiate a deal, so Stoltzfus waived his case to court,
where he may plead guilty or face a trial on four misdemeanor counts.
Charges against both Eshes stemmed from unannounced state inspections at
both kennels Nov. 2 and follow-up inspections Nov. 28 by Wardens Drew Delenick and Kristen Donmoyer.

At John Esh's kennel Nov. 2, Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement wardens noted he did not provide the minimum amount of kennel space for 269 dogs on the
premises. Dog feeders were contaminated with feces and debris, cages had
accumulations of moldy feces and food and some enclosures were covered in feces. John Esh also was cited because he could not show proof that 69 of his dogs had received rabies vaccines.

At a Nov. 28 follow-up inspection at John Esh's kennel, dogs were still kept
in cramped cages, and vaccination proofs were still missing.
Three of the violations were graded as more serious misdemeanor counts
because John Esh was convicted of similar violations within the last year.
Like his father, Daniel Esh was charged for violating space requirements for
some of the 498 dogs at his kennel during the Nov. 2 inspection.
In that inspection report, a warden noted one 10-square-foot cage housed six
dogs, making it less than half the size required by state law, as were
several other cages. Daniel Esh also was charged for not cleaning dog feeders that were contaminated with feces and debris, not cleaning dog enclosures that were smeared with feces and not ridding the kennel of rodents.
Daniel Esh also received more serious misdemeanor charges for the violations
because he was convicted of similar infractions within the past 12 months.
The most recent charges against the Eshes follow Gov. Ed Rendell's crackdown on chronically noncompliant, large-scale commercial breeders in an effort to rid the state of its reputation as "the puppy mill capital of the East."

Just seven months before the Nov. 2 inspections resulting in current charges
against Daniel Esh, his kennel passed warden Travis Hess' inspection without
a single "unsatisfactory" mark. Likewise, Hess passed the elder Esh's kennel on March 12 with all satisfactory marks. Since then, Rendell has ordered the hiring of new wardens, including Delenick and Donmoyer, to create a specialized inspection team. With the new inspection team in place, several county kennels have been closed for repeated violations, and a number of kennel operators were convicted of animal cruelty after inspectors alerted authorities to ailing animals observed during their inspections.

E-mail: _slindt@lnpnews.com_ (mailto:slindt@lnpnews.com)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

New dog law bares its teeth, part II

The state Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement has taken action to shut down a Lancaster County kennel owner embroiled in legal troubles for more than a decade.

The bureau on Friday sent a letter informing Daniel P. Esh, 49, who operates Scarlet Maple kennel in Ronks, that his 2009 kennel license application was denied.

Under the new dog law, the bureau also issued a suspension notice that forbids Esh from selling, breeding or buying dogs while his case is on appeal. He may transfer his nearly 400 dogs to a licensed shelter or rescue with bureau approval.

"He has the right to appeal, but he cannot continue to operate a kennel," said bureau spokesman Chris Ryder.

Esh was issued his notification the same day Lehigh County kennel owner Derbe Eckhart was denied his license. Eckhart too has a long history of run ins with authories over operations at Almost Heaven kennel in Emmaus - where PSPCA agents seized dozens of sick animals in October - and is currently on trial for animal cruelty.

Few Pennsylvania kennel operators have had as lengthy a series of runs ins with authorities as Esh, who has been in business for two decades or more.

Last month Esh pleaded guilty to three summary dog law offenses stemming from 2007 inspection during which wardens found filthy cages and feeders full of feces, hair and mold.

Since Esh only received the letter Monday, bureau officials said they did not know if he planned to appeal.

Esh's attorney told a reporter for the Lancaster Intelligencer last month that if Esh's renewal was denied he would appeal.

Esh now has 10 days to file an appeal at which point a hearing date would be set. Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff has the final say, but Esh may appeal his decision to Commonwealth Court, Ryder said.

Over the years, Esh has been charged repeatedly with dog law violations and has engaged in a legal battle with Leacock Township over the size of the operation. Esh also has been the focus of animal welfare campaigns for years for selling sick puppies.

In 1996 state authorities placed a six-month quarantine on Esh's kennel (then known as Clearview) after one of his puppies bit a child and was found to have rabies. In 1997 Esh and his father John Esh, who now runs Twin Maple kennel at the same address, were sued by the state Attorney General for selling dogs to breeders without the required federal USDA license.