Humane Euthanasia for Animals
Posted on October 17, 2008 by Danny Meek
It is widely believed that between 12 million to 15 million abandoned cats and dogs enter into shelters every year in the United State alone. Only about one third of these pets will be placed into an adoptive home.
The others?
They will most certainly be destroyed.
According to animallaw.com, Sodium Pentobarbital is the most acceptable method of euthanizing warm-blooded animals.
"When injected into a vein, this drug produces rapid unconsciousness and death without the pain and distress that accompany all other methods. This method is the most cost-effective and overall least expensive of all euthanasia techniques (according to the Michigan Humane Society, the cost of lethal injection, materials and labor is $2.88 per animal). It does require adequate staff training because each animal is handled individually. The injection process allows staff to provide personal comfort to each animal in its last moments, which may greatly offset the emotional stress.
Shelters employ a number of other “euthanasia” methods. One common method is the gas chamber. Either carbon monoxide (CO) or carbon dioxide (CO2) is generally used, though some still use nitrogen gas. In some areas, animals are taken outside and disposed of as target practice for law enforcement authorities. For some animals, the gentle touch of a shelter worker during the euthanasia process may be the only real affection they have ever had. The lethal injection technique allows the worker to comfort the animal and experience closure of the death process.
Gas chambers have many limitations which make the method less practical, slower, more dangerous to staff (workers dying of CO poisoning), and ultimately more expensive than lethal injection. Abuse of the chamber is common. In many cases animals are simply shoved into the chamber, the door sealed, the button pushed, and the employee walks away, resulting in a slow, painful death for the animals.
Animals who end their lives in a shelter, humane society, or even city pound, deserve to have the last moments free of pain and discomfort as can be provided by the practice of humane euthanasia."
We will next take a look at a proposed model law of Euthanasia for Animals.