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Shak, the dalmation thing is admittedly anecdotal. I considered getting a dalmation once, and asked the vet at my local shelter about them and she told me about their blindness issue and why it happens so frequently among them.
Their sense of shared community produces their BEST quality.
But that itself is double edged. It works to keep them all working together for the common good, but also is the source of their insular society that produces inbreeding (which harms future children), shunning of those who don't stick to the old ways. etc.
The runoff of nutrients doesn't just affect them. That nutrient runoff contributes to the algae blooms which choke out fish and water plant species in the Chesapeake Bay. Per-capita, they are among the worst of offenders.
They don't necessarially have to die off. Just change. The Mennonites used to be just as strict as the Old Order Amish. They realized a need for change and reached out to the rest of the world and joined us. That's something I want to see the Old Orders do.
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