At a Friday morning press conference held by Ephrata Police Lt. Christopher McKim in regard to the horse who died this past Tuesday, August 2nd, on Bethany Road near Brossman Road in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Captain McKim announced that two counts of animal cruelty charges are being filed against Marvin Sensenig, 20, after a female bystander videotaped the incident and told police about the abuse.
The police showed photos of a man standing over the horse as it lay on the ground. In the video, you can see the man pick up the horse’s head while its tongue was hanging out completely. The horse was panting heavily barely able to breathe. The female witness claimed she saw the Amish man kick, beat and hit the horse repeatedly. Once a horse collapses to the ground, it is all but impossible to get him to stand again.
The Akron Fire Company arrived and used 1000 gallons of water to cool down the horse. Sadly, the damage was too severe to save him. The horse was subsequently euthanized. The police don’t know how or when the horse was put down. If the horse had been euthanized on the road, it would’ve been completed by injection. If done at an Amish farm, many times they shoot it.
The pictures of the horse went viral after they were posted on Facebook by the female bystander. Officers arrived on the scene and Bethany Road was blocked for nearly three hours.
The police believe the full load of watermelons was too much for the horse and that is the reason the horse collapsed and died. This was not a buggy but a working cart.
The summary citations against Sensenig carry up to a $750 fine and a maximum of 90 days in jail for each count of animal cruelty. Spending time in jail is not common for animal abuse for a summary offense in the state of Pennsylvania. It will be decided by a judge as to what will happen to Sensenig.
“It is alleged that the defendant unreasonably struck a horse that was overburdened with a heavy load. The horse expired shortly thereafter,” reads a statement from police during the press conference. “This prosecution has been reviewed the by the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office, and is the fullest extent available by Pennsylvania Law.”
The outrage online, I believe, is what caused the Ephrata police to immediately investigate the death of this unfortunate horse owned by an Amish family.
Yesterday, I drove on Bethany Road near the Brossman Road intersection where this horse collapsed. In my own way, I wanted to pay my respects to a horse who was mistreated as are others by the Amish. Bethany Road is located in Lancaster County, home to many Amish families.
The Amish have a bad reputation amongst animal advocates. They are notoriously known for the puppy mills they have where dogs are kept in small, filthy cages and whose sole mission is to create puppies to sell in pet stores across America. When the dogs are of no use, they either take them to an auction to be sold to another puppy mill farmer or they are killed inhumanely. The Amish see dogs as cattle, or as crops. They don’t view animals on the level most Americans do. They are property and meant to work and make money for them. Puppy mills rake in a lot of money for this community. The Amish aren’t the only people who run puppy mills but in Lancaster County but due to the large numbers of Amish who run them, Pennsylvania is known as the puppy mill capital of the East. Even with PA’s new dog law in 2010, too many puppy mills still flourish and at least 75% have gone underground.
photo by Tina Evangelista-Eppenstein
The Amish are also known as a forgiving community filled with grace. This came to light after a man shot and killed 5 girls at a one-room schoolhouse in 2006. All of the media outlets praised the Amish for their immediate forgiveness and reconciliation toward the killer. They reached out to the killer’s widow. The manner in which they handled this unbelievable and shocking crime was seen as elegance and respect by the world. However, all is not what it seems once you look past the surface which the media failed to do. I wrote about the Amish in 2013 to address the angst, outrage and conundrum felt by many in light of their bipolar behavior toward humans and animals.
Some Amish men treat woman and children horribly. Recently, it came to light about a Bucks County man was “gifted” an Amish girl in return for helping her parents in a financial situation. The girl was 14 at the time and is now 18. The young woman has two children by this man. A trial will proceed in this unthinkable case. This is far more commonplace than you might think. An Amish man, John Bieler, was sentenced to 8-16 years for sexually assaulting 8 children over a 15 year period. Another Amish man, Daniel Miller, pled guilty to 17 charges of rape and gross sexual imposition. He preyed upon young girls ages 5-13 from 2009-2012. He received life in prison with a chance of parole in 20 years.
Not all Amish participate in the rapes and sexual exploitation of children and women. The same is true of animal abuse among the Amish. But, they do turn a blind eye to the abuse which makes them as culpable as the ones who are abusive in my opinion.
People will disagree about the Amish and their ways and believe them to be a peaceful group. You can’t lump all Amish together just as you can’t lump all Catholic priests together where many were found to have molested children over the years. The Catholic Church also turned a blind eye to what was happening right under their noses and did nothing for a long time.
The Amish deal with issues in their own way because of their religious belief. They try to remove themselves from the “outside” world as much as possible. There is nothing wrong with your religious beliefs but when a crime is committed, you’ve broken the law and should be treated the way any criminal would be treated.
It was said on facebook that the police officer who was on the scene said the Amish have their own laws and didn’t know how this was going to be handled. The Ephrata police department refuted that as seen in this memo and said that did not occur.
horse and buggy (left side) on Bethany Road, Lancaster County. photo by Tina Evangelista-Eppenstein
Marvin Sensening is only 20 years old and charged with animal cruelty. Children are taught from a young age how to treat animals and it “ain’t” pretty.
“It’s an emotional issue for people when they see animals mistreated. They naturally react. The initial post (on fb) was somewhat erroneous about the actions of the police and people were naturally outraged when they thought the police would do nothing. But that wasn’t the case,” said Ephrata Police Lt. Christopher McKim at a Friday morning news conference. When officers arrived on the scene, they say two men were trying to get the horse to its feet.
God Bless this horse and may he finally be out of his misery and hell here on earth.
Now it’s time for Pennsylvania to have stiffer sentences and steeper fines imposed on those who commit animal cruelty. Animal abusers need to pay a higher price for the crimes they commit against animals to deter others from committing the same crimes against animals.
Very well said. Mother’s don’t do anything about incest in their own families. It’s so sickening.
I don’t think women are allowed to speak up in the Amish community. I don’t know what happens if they do but they do turn the other way while their husbands abuse or molest their daughters. Very disgraceful. Not all Amish are like this. Enough of them do. More of them should be in jail.
I don’t respect the Amish and never will. Their godliness is fake to the core. Phonies.
?9?5>
?
Amish are cruel and phonies. They use computers. They sell their stuff at a high price to the secular world. They pretend to be peaceful. Behind closed doors, some of them are nothing but monsters wantonly and willingly hurting or killing animals and molesting and raping the women and children. They are disgusting. No one wants to say it in the media. The media is as bad as them for covering up the truth. Thank you for exposing them as they really are.
Amen to that!
Some Amish men treat woman and children horribly. Recently, it came to light about a Bucks County man was “gifted” an Amish girl in return for helping her parents in a financial situation. The girl was 14 at the time and is now 18. The young woman has two children by this man. A trial will proceed in this unthinkable case. This is far more commonplace than you might think. An Amish man, John Bieler, was sentenced to 8-16 years for sexually assaulting 8 children over a 15 year period. Another Amish man, Daniel Miller, pled guilty to 17 charges of rape and gross sexual imposition. He preyed upon young girls ages 5-13 from 2009-2012. He received life in prison with a chance of parole in 20 years.
perverts, deviants and pedophiles. The Truth!
They’re able to hide behind the i r religion and get away with this.
good!
He got away with murder.
The Amish are among the worst animal abusers in America. Skinny horses. Overworked horses. Horses taken to sale barns and sold to buyers for slaughter in Canada or Mexico. Kill pens are full at auction barns in Amish areas. Horses are not turned out to pasture for retirement after a life of hard work. We’ll see if the judge on this case has the brains to give this man the full penalty.
Joe,
You are correct about the way horses are treated. Racing horses can ben found at slaughter houses as well.
The Amish do use them as work horses and are very rarely given the chance to live their lives out in a pasture.
The man who kicked and punched his horse received a small fine and no jail time. The case is now closed.
Thank you.
The final outcome was a bit let down. He only had to pay a small fine which they can make up by selling one puppy. It’s all such a joke in this ridiculous state where animal abuse runs rampant and our legislators take years to pass new bills into laws to protect animals. It’s a real joke. It’s time to vote some people out.
Greetings! Very helpful guidance on this article! It truly is the
small changes that make the biggest changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!
This really answered my issue, thank you!
Quite! This was a really excellent post. Thank you for your supplied information
They work their horses until they literally fall over and die.