Lancaster County puppy breeder sentenced to jail for animal cruelty

Susan Miers Smith, Reading Eagle, Pa.
·1 min read

Jun. 8—The Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announced Wednesday that Lancaster County puppy breeder Daniel Esh, 62, entered an open guilty plea to a summary charge of animal cruelty and was sentenced Tuesday to 30 days in Lancaster County Prison.

Esh also faces an additional 90 days of animal ownership prohibition.

Esh had appealed a 90-day jail sentence received in September. In September, he also was sentenced to three years of animal ownership prohibition for 12 counts of animal cruelty, which still stands.

The charges stemmed from June 4, when the Pennsylvania SPCA's Humane Law Enforcement team visited his Ronks, Leacock Township, farm and removed 13 dogs found to have matted fur and untreated medical conditions. Esh was under a dog ownership prohibition order then as the result of a 2020 guilty plea to animal cruelty charges.

Esh's wife, Verna, 61, pleaded guilty in September to one charge of animal neglect related to lack of veterinary care.

Their son, Omar, 22, is awaiting trial on nine counts of animal neglect and one count of animal cruelty in a case relating to the June animal seizure.

The PSPCA will continue to have random inspection rights at the Esh farm, which operated as Scarlet-Maple Farm Kennel, for three years to ensure compliance with the court order.

Anyone with information about this case, or other cases involving animal cruelty, can call the Pennsylvania SPCA's Cruelty Hotline at 866-601-SPCA. Tips can be left anonymously.