That is why she called animal care and control and asked them to use lethal injection instead of the gas chamber to euthanize her dog. They agreed.
Animal activists say, lethal injection is painless and quick. But, some animal control officers say using gas is a necessary procedure, because giving a vicious or wild animal a shot is dangerous for staff and traumatic for the animal.
"We want that whole system to work perfectly, that there is no stress on the animal. They go in, they breathe and they go to sleep," said Ernie Baker, the animal control officer in Branch County.
Jeff Richards has been practicing veterinary medicine for almost 40 years. He says lethal injection is the method he uses because it is quick and less painful, but "I think there is a place, for carbon monoxide," Richards said.
He says in some cases, gas may be a safer option for shelter staff, physically and mentally.
"So when you are euthanizing animals that may be healthy, and we are talking a shelter situation, that is quite stressful on people," Richards said.
And the opinions from experts vary. In October, the National Animal Control Association issued new guidelines for euthanasia, saying, "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. NACA acknowledges that there are agencies legally restricted in their ability to obtain sodium pentobarbital. In such cases the alternative must be to seek out local veterinarians to provide euthanasia services utilizing sodium pentobarbital. NACA condemns the use of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, nitrous oxide, argon, or anesthetic gases as well as physical methods such as electrocution, gunshot, and blunt force trauma for animal shelter euthanasia of dogs and cats."
But according to the 2007 American Veterinary Medical Association guidelines on euthanasia, "The use of injectable euthanasia agents is the most rapid and reliable method of performing Euthanasia."
But the same report says, "carbon monoxide used for individual animal or mass euthanasia is acceptable for dogs, cats, and other small mammals, provided that commercially compressed CO is used..."
Michigan Legislators will continue to discuss this bill: House Bill 6042. But they do not expect the issue to come up again this year.
