In “What’s at stake with Utah’s ‘Animal Shelter Revisions’ bill,” Laura McLain suggests that a recent bill to eliminate gas chambers in Utah pounds is premature because gassing animals is “humane,” less expensive, and safer for staff than barbiturate injection. She is wrong on all counts. Using gas chambers in animal shelters to euthanize animals is inhumane, more expensive than lethal injection, and dangerous for staff.
Gas chambers cause intense suffering for animals as they gasp for breath and experience searing pain in their lungs. Fighting between animals is also not uncommon when gassing multiple animals simultaneously. They urinate and defecate on themselves and each other. They suffer convulsions. And they die only after intense suffering.
The gas killing of animals is also more expensive than lethal injection. A national study found that killing by injection was 51% cheaper per animal than using a gas chamber.
Finally, not only may terrified animals claw and bite in a desperate bid to escape when being put into the chamber, but carbon monoxide is odorless, tasteless, and highly toxic, making it extremely hazardous to human health. Shelter workers have been injured, hospitalized, and in one case, killed due to the use of gas chambers.
That the chambers may be “specially designed and calibrated” cannot overcome the humane, fiscal, and safety objections to this form of mechanized death. The gas chamber is an antiquated holdover from the 19th century when killing animals in this brutal manner first became widespread. It has no place in the 21st, which is why 47 other states no longer use it. Utah should follow suit.
Nathan J. Winograd, executive director, No Kill Advocacy Center, Canyon, Calif.
