Struggle for humane euthanasia continues in U.S., Philippines

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November/December 2009:

 

 

Struggle for humane euthanasia continues in U.S., Philippines

 

An employee of the Lincoln County Animal Shelter in

Lincolnton, North Carolina escaped serious injury on October 20,

2009 when a newly installed gas chamber exploded. The man had just

killed several dogs. " Carbon monoxide was clearing out of the

machine when a fireball, propelled by pressure, blew open the door

of the gas chamber, burning the man and slamming the chamber door

into him, " reported Diane Turbyfill of the Gaston Gazette.

North Carolina Coalition for Humane Euthanasia secretary

Michele King, of Garner, North Carolina, forwarded to ANIMAL

PEOPLE a purchase order which she said " shows that the gas chamber

was formerly used in Reidsville, at Rockingham County Animal

Control, " where King said it " leaked repeatedly and was finally

removed. The same gas chamber company, Cutting Edge Fabrication in

Gastonia, sold another used gas chamber to Iredell County last

year, " King added. " That chamber also later exploded, " on July 22,

2008, with 10 dogs inside at the time.

Twenty-four North Carolina county animal control departments

still use gas chambers, said King.

New state legislation required shelters in New Mexico and

West Virginia to stop gassing animals effective on July 1, 2009.

Gassing also ended on that day in Griffin, Georgia, Dawn Bechtold

of U.S. Animal Protection told ANIMAL PEOPLE. Georgia law prohibited

installing new gas chambers after 1990, but allowed shelters that

already had them to continue using them. Bechtold and others have

been lobbying and litigating ever since to ensure that gas chambers

are retired and not replaced.

Police chief Jeff Straub, of Taylor, Texas, ended gassing

later in July 2009, upon learning that Taylor was the last to gas

animals within a 30-county radius.

U.S. progress against gassing encouraged Anna Cabrera of the

Philippine Animal Welfare Society to try again, after the national

Committee on Animal Welfare voted to continue to allow Philippine

animal control agencies to gas dogs with exhaust fumes from motor

vehicles. " We shall start campaigning actively with government

officials and the media, " Cabrera said, " to show them the cruelty

of such a practice. "

The Manila Times in November 2009 published photos of dogs

being gassed at Zamboanga City. " In other areas in the Philippines,

unclaimed dogs in pounds are either drowned or shot, " the Manila

Times mentioned, " while in some provinces, stray dogs are hunted

for meat. "

Instances of U.S. animal control agencies drowning and

shooting animals continue to come to light.

In Victorville, California, former Adelanto Animal Control

supervisor Kevin Murphy, 38, charged with drowning 50 kittens

between July and October 2007, on October 16, 2009 plea bargained a

sentence of 90 days of weekend jail time, three years on probation,

a fine of $350, and an order to attend six weekly personal

counseling sessions. Charged in March 2008, Murphy resigned his

animal control job in May 2008.

But there was apparently no penalty for animal control

officers in Navajo County, Arizona, who shot 40 to 50 dogs in May

2009 at the home of Edward Harvey, outside of Heber in the

northeastern part of the state. Harvey was jailed for a month after

Navajo County Sheriff's officers found him in possession of

unlicensed and illegal firearms.

" " We feel the decision made in the field [to shoot the dogs]

was the right one to prevent suffering for the animals, " Navajo

County health director Wade Kartchner told Glen Creno and Alex

Alenburg of the Arizona Republic.

The Navajo County contracts for shelter services with the

Humane Society of the White Mountains in Lakeside, but the humane

society was apparently not asked to impound the dogs. " Shooting is

not a humane way to end an animal's suffering, " said Humane Society

of the White Mountains executive director Anna-Marie Rea.

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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