Imagine if you will what it is like for an animal to suffer the fate of being killed inhumanely in a gas chamber. Yes, these archaic, death chambers are still used in the state of PA. Gas chambers MUST be outlawed. Imagine that dog or cat being stuffed into a chamber filled with other dogs and cats, screaming, biting and fighting each other and to get out of there.
Imagine that poor animal being led to the chamber. Smelling death from previous gassings. Now imagine that dog being inside with other dogs or cats fighting, panicking, trembling with fear as the door closes and being in total darkness. A loud sound hissing sound indicates that CO gas is being pumped into the chamber. Without even knowing what that sound could be, they already know it is a horrible place to be. They begin gasping for air. Struggling to breathe. If the chamber has a leak or opening, it will take longer for the gas to enter their lungs and kill them. Older animals will take longer to die. Scared. Struggling. Fighting. Trembling. Screaming. Barking. Howling. Suffocating. And sometimes it will take two to three times in a gas chamber for an animal to die. Here is one account from an animal control officer from North Carolina:
“I go home, take a shower, take my 4 anti-anxiety pills and drive to work.. I don’t eat, I can’t eat. It’s now time, to put these animals in the gas chamber. I put my ear plugs in, and when I go to the collect the dogs, the dogs are so excited to see me, that they jump up to kiss me and think they are going to play.” “I put them in the rolling cage and take them to the gas chamber. They know. They just know. They can smell the death.. They can smell the fear. They start whimpering, the second I put them in the box. The boss tells me to squeeze in as many as I can to save on gas. He watches. He knows I hate him, he knows I hate my job. I do as I’m told. He watches until all the dogs, and cats (thrown in together) are fighting and screaming. The sounds is very muffled to me because of my ear plugs. He walks out, I turn the gas on, and walk out.” “I walk out as fast as I can. I walk into the bathroom, and I take a pin and draw blood from my hand. Why? The pain and blood takes my brain off of what I just did. In 40 minutes, I have to go back and unload the dead animals. I pray that none survived, which happens when I overstuff the chamber. I pull them out with thick gloves, and the smell of carbon monoxide makes me sick. So does the vomit and blood, and all the bowel movements. I pull them out, put them in plastic bags.”
There are three to five gas chambers in existence and used in the state of PA to kill animals inhumanely. They can be found in western PA. Their locations are kept secret from the public for fear of retaliation due to the outrage of animal advocates.
Gas chambers must be banned in PA. Senate Bill 969 would accomplish this feat. Sadly, the PA Veterinary Medical Assocation opposes this bill. One HAS to ask “why”? A veterinarian opposed to banning gas chambers?! A veterinarian who uses sodium pentobarbital, a barbituate, to humanely euthanize pets in his/her own practice. Veterinarians, the men and women, who are here to help the animals OPPOSED to banning gas chambers. Make sense to you? Me, either.
The cost of using gas chambers has proven to be more expensive to inhumanely kill animals than the use of sodium pentobarbital in animal shelters. A lethal injection of sodium pentobarbital is not only more humane, but a more peaceful and quicker death. In gas chambers, the animals are among each other completely stressed out as previously stated. With the injection, an animal is usually talked to, held and caressed as the animals dies. I know. I’ve been there. I have held many animals as they were given injections to be humanely euthanized in a shelter. Does it make the loss of that animal any easier? No,but, knowing it didn’t have to suffer a horrible death provides some comfort and solace.
According to NPPMWatch, many veterinarians don’t even realize gas chambers are still being used in PA.
According to Animal Law Coalition, “The American Veterinary Medical Association has given support for continued use of carbon monoxide gas chambers, saying they are “acceptable” though not “preferred” as a means of killing shelter animals. AVMA has many caveats and requirements for the use of CO gas chambers which, if summarized in one sentence, would basically state, if shelter workers can fit the proverbial camel through the eye of a needle, CO gas chambers are safe and acceptable.”
For more information on the AVMA’s stance on animal gas chambers…..
“In September, 2010, the National Animal Control Association (NACA) adopted a policy: “NACA considers lethal injection of sodium pentobarbital, administered by competent, trained personnel, to be the only method of choice utilized for humane euthanasia of animal shelter dogs and cats.”
“The Association of Shelter Veterinarians agrees, stating flatly that “the use of carbon monoxide for individual or mass companion animal euthanasia in shelters is unacceptable due to significant humane, operational and safety concerns…[C]arbon monoxide euthanasia should be banned in shelters.”
WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO
“The legislature is in summer recess, but this is a good time to contact your state senator and urge him or her to support an end to animal gas chambers in Pennsylvania. The bill is pending in the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee. Find committee members here. (Just click on their names for contact info.) Find your PA state senator here. Contact committee members and your PA state senator and urge them to end the use of cruel gas chambers to kill shelter animals by voting yes on S.B. 969.”
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Download the form below and take it to your own veterinarian to sign. We need our vets to understand that gas chambers are still in use of PA and they must be abolished.
PA.gas_.chambers.vets_.pdf