Gassing is neither quick, humane, or painless. Note the cat vomited and that's how they figured out it was still alive. I was once told by the woman who rescues out of Vermillion Parish in Louisiana, where I flew to get Mr. Wiggins, that they often have to gas them twice because they have an old decrepit gas chamber, and that the gassing burns their throats, they panic and try to dig out, and they vomit all over. A terrible way to die.
Officials at West Valley City's animal shelter in Utah say the cat named Andrea hadn't been adopted for 30 days when shelter officials tried to put her to death in October. She survived, so they gassed her again.
Shelter officials detected no vital signs and presumed she was dead after the second try, so they put her in a plastic bag in a cooler. But when they checked the bag, they saw she had vomited on herself and had hypothermia but was alive.There are efforts to roll back gassing as a means of euthanasia, but it requires people's help. Here are two good places to support, not only with funds but with your time (targeted letters of protest, et al). Read the websites, begin to follow the various bills being worked on in the news, see how the legislative and civil society process works via this issue.
- Animal Law Coalition - which has an impressive array of bills it is working on.
- No Kill Advocacy Center (Nathan Winograd's group) - works with shelters to find alternatives to euthanizing.
Share
