"Most notoriously, gas chambers were used in the Nazi Third Reich during the 1930s as part of the so-called "public euthanasia program" aimed at eliminating physically and intellectually disabled people. The Nazi’s perfected the gas chamber to maximize the efficiency of killing massive amounts of people in the most cost effective way possible (the industrial age was yet to be in full swing)."
-Denise LeBeau
TWO BILLS PENDING IN NC
BUT ONE IS A BAD BILL- BE SURE TO SUPPORT THE RIGHT ONE
There are 2 bills pending in the North Carolina legislature concerning euthanasia of shelter animals: One is Davie's Law, H.B. 6, supported by Animal Law Coalition, American Humane Association, ASPCA, National Animal Control Association, In Defense of Animals, Born Free USA, HSUS and dozens of North Carolina animal welfare groups, shelters, and veterinarians.
Thousands of citizens and dozens of legislators have already endorsed Davie's Law, H.B. 6.
The other bill is H.B. 27
Let North Carolina legislators know that you prefer Davie's Law, H.B. 6.Attached are comparisons of the 2 bills which you can download.
Here's why Davie's Law is the much better bill:
Unlike Davie's Law, H.B. 27 leaves CO gas chambers in place in North Carolina shelters. It leaves shelter workers exposed to dangerous CO gas. Attached for downloading is a compilation of inspection reports that show shelter workers are and have been exposed to dangerous CO gas from leaking or malfunctioning animal gas chambers in North Carolina. Why should the state continue to allow their use at all?
2/3 of North Carolina counties use humane lethal injection on all animal euthanized; there is no reason why the remaining counties cannot also use this method.
The refusal to include the phase out provision on the use of animal gas chambers in the approximately 1/3 of North Carolina counties that still use them, prompted the filing of Davie's Law, still pending in the state legislature.
Why the Public prefers Davie’s Law (HB6) over HB27
1. Davie’s Law ends gas chamber use; HB27 does not
Many residents of NC, including Veterinarians, Medical Doctors, and concerned citizens want to end the use of gas chambers completely.
2. Davie’s Law will save money, HB27 will not
- Davie’s Law eliminates the need for two systems (injection and gassing), which can save money in training, maintenance, repair, operation and lawsuits; HB27 does not
- Injection only is cheaper per animal and will save STATE money in inspections, investigations
- In the current 59 counties using injection only, no problems have been reported dealing
with wild and farm animals
- No additional licensing or certification for HB6 over existing laws
3. Davie’s Law better protects workers
- HB27 means workers still potentially exposed to poisonous gases, which can lead to health
problems (and lawsuits)
- No problems from injection method reported in 59 facilities using injection only
4. Davie’s Law is simple and straightforward, HB27 is not
HB27 seems to make already-complex laws and regulations even more difficult for shelters to follow.
5. Davie’s Law has more public and legislative support
- Davie’s Law is supported by American Humane Association, ASPCA, Humane Society of the United States, Animal Law Coalition, many NC veterinarians and animal welfare organizations, and thousands of North Carolinians
- HB27 supporters back BOTH bills, but many HB6 supporters do not back HB27
- 2/3 of NC counties euthanize primarily or exclusively by injection—a clear indication of public support
- 27 Senators support Davie’s Law/SB199, but there is no HB27 companion bill in Senate
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Gassing: After being deprived of food and water for days, multiple animals are stuffed into small airtight containers and shoved into another container where poisonous gas is pumped. They are then left to die a long slow terrifying and agonizing death. In crippling agony, many surviving dogs and cats are later dumped with the dead bodies at landfills and left with the blood of the dead all over them.
Heartstick; another misnomer, is one of several inhumane ways that shelters in the US skill your lost pets. They are stabbed in the chest when an instrument that penetrates the heart and in most cases are completely conscious during this horrific experience.
Superior Court Judge enters permanent injunction against the Georgia Department of Agriculture
Georgia Judge orders GA Dept of Agriculture to stop violating the law by “authorizing, allowing or encouraging” the illegal gassing of dogs and cats in shelters. The judge also voided all licenses issued by state officials to shelters that are illegally gassing dogs and cats.
At the end of our program, 'Ol Southern Style, we asked our guests the question: "How do you think the US compares to other countries when it comes to treatment of himeless dogs and cats?"
Most of our guests stated that they believed the US is equal or worse to 3rd world countries.
Take a look at how people in India are treating their stray dogs and then compare. When you consider the cruelties that are comitted in the US that take place behind closed doors and compare them to cruelties like these that happen out in the open they are sadly the alike. (Read the article)
Scroll down to just above the images to get the contact information and send letters to help make this stop.
Similar situations are taking place in European countries as well. It's up to us as humans to take responsibility. Let's start in our own communities and make things right for the animals and then send help and support to these other area. Please be involved. Thank you.
TALK RADIO FOR ANIMAL PROTECTION
'Ol Southern Style
Guests: Laura Allen, Rebecca Guinn, Peter McQueen, Linda Cordry
Exposure in Support of Forgotten Shelter Dogs & Cats Suffering Horrific Torture under the Guise of Euthanasia without Protection from Cruelty
Since the original airing of this segment in 2009, Georgia has passed a ban on gas chambers. Bills are now pending in Louisiana, Pennsylvania!
STOP THE NC GAS CHAMBER BILL !
The North Carolina bill HB27, has passed! This bill leaves the discretion to local officials to continue cruel gas chamber killings.
Take Action to stop this bill before it becomes a law!
There is no time to waste. The bill now goes before another committee, but a hearing is expected to be set quickly. Please go here for more information and how you can help defeat this bill.
Please pass this on to everyone you know who might know someone in North Carolina
The final language of bill HB 27 is being withheld from the public till the hearing, presumably to limit protest.
We don't pass laws in secret in the U.S., and there is no reason for North Carolina or any state to continue to use gas chambers which are grossly inhumane and cruel, dangerous for shelter workers, and expensive to operate and maintain when compared with lethal injection.
Call on Ag Committee members to vote NO on H.B. 27. Don't wait. The hearing is tomorrow.
Call on NC legislators and especially Sen. David Hoyle and Gov. Bev Perdue to support a bill, Davie's Law, H.B. 6/S.B. 199 that would end gas chambers and other cruel methods of killing shelter animals. Gov. Perdue and Sen. Hoyle promised to support this legislation. It is time they stepped up to do that.
Dogs and cats are forced into small cages and wheeled into the chamber which resembles a metal box. Their cries, whining, howling and scratching are plainly audible to anyone in the vicinity of the chamber. Their agony and fear, their suffering, goes on for some time. Puppies, kittens and pregnant or sick animals may not die quickly. They may require multiple gassings before they are finally dead.
Many times animals are denied food and water during the day before they are gassed to make clean up more convenient. There will be less feces and urine from the gassing if they are first starved and denied water. Of course, this only adds to their stress.
In 2006 in a highly publicized case, a dog, Grace, was found alive in the Liberty County, Georgia gas chamber after a gassing, though she was shaking violently and covered in the blood, feces and urine of the animals who died around her in the chamber.
In hearings on the permanent injunction in this case, one witness' testimony that cats slammed themselves against the gas chambers' walls in frantic efforts to escape. The witness also described dogs howling and scratching desperately as they slowly suffocated.
Gas Chambers: A History and Overview
With permission: Laura Allen
Gas Chambers
by Denise LeBeau
Many tax-funded animal shelters still use carbon monoxide gas chambers to kill unwanted cats and dogs.
This method is considered by many to be outdated and inhumane. Your taxes are funding It!
Animals in a gas chamber do not die quickly or painlessly. They struggle for breath. They claw to get out. This is not a pretty site and will stay with you for a very long time. When animals inhale carbon monoxide, they can suffer convulsions, vomiting, angina, and muscular spasms. Some will not die the first time. There is a better, more humane way, euthanasia by injection. This method is cost effective and takes only seconds.
Shelter workers are at risk from carbon monoxide poisoning when they unload the gas chamber, breathing in low levels of the gas on a regular basis. This can lead to many health problems, and even death. Counties are at risk of lawsuits from these workers if they become ill. Carbon monoxide is also extremely flammable, odorless, colorless, and difficult to detect.
The Humane Society of the United States, American Humane, American Veterinary Medical Association, National Animal Control Association, the American Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and the Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights all advocate lethal injection of sodium pentobarbitol. It is considered the most humane, safest, and least stressful choice for euthanasia.
In 1872, a Pennsylvania SPCA took the first pound contract in the United States, and took over the work of taking in stray dogs and introduced a gas chamber to replace old, slow, more painful practices of killing stray animals. The older accepted methods of killing companion animals was shooting, burying, and drowning. A gas chamber compared to these other, older barbaric means could certainly be considered an improvement, at that time.
Gassing human prisoners was originally proposed by Dr. Allen McLean Hamilton, a toxicologist, who suggested an execution method that would be more humane than hanging or shooting, which were the choices offered to condemned men in Nevada in the early part of the century. The first convict to be gassed on February 8, 1924, Gee Jong, had his lawyers fighting a battle in courts to show that gassing was a “cruel and unusual punishment” and was illegal under the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution.
Prisoners are advised to take deep breaths to shorten their suffering – the luxury of instructions companion animals do not understand. Witnesses of human gas chamber executions have described the scene as “extreme horror, pain and strangling.” It is difficult nowadays to imagine a more cruel, expensive or dangerous (to the staff and witnesses) method of execution than gassing.
According to NCCHE, "A quarter of a million cats and dogs are killed in North Carolina animal shelters annually. While most jurisdictions now utilize modern euthanasia practices, more than 30 county facilities continue to use the gas chamber. Extreme animal suffering in the gas chamber is well-documented."
Ag Committee Still Considering Davie's Law - North Carolina
by Laura Allen
Update Mar. 5, 2009: The North Carolina House Agriculture Committee heard testimony yesterday about Davie's Law, H.B. 6, which would end the use of gas chambers on shelter animals and ban heartstick and mandate safe lethal injection for euthanasia of dogs and cats.
Veterinarians Drs. Kim Sheets and Lynne Swanson and veterinary technician Susan Boyer testified in support of the bill. They each spoke from experience about the suffering and danger caused by use of the gas chambers and the much safer, humane method of euthanasia, lethal injection.
The committee was provided a 2009 cost study showing in North Carolina euthanasia by lethal injection is less expensive than using gas chambers. That study is attached.
Please keep calling and writing committee members listed below and urge them to support Davie's Law, H.B. 6. Many are aligned with the agriculture community which opposes this bill.
URGENT!
New Ban forces the immediate surrender of loving family pets for cruel destruction. Urgent foster care is needed to save these dogs from inhumane suffering and death while their owners relocate to escape the misguided ban! Help support the repeal!
The tragedy of BSL is hitting hard in Lakewood, OH. The town bans pit bull and canary breeds and mixes. Family pets are being ordered out of town. In some cases animal control does not even bother to look at the dogs before ordering them out.
Ohio is one of the worst states for shelter cruelty.
Update April 7: Gov. Bill Richardson has made it official. H.B. 265 is now law in New Mexico. CO gas chambers can no longer be used to kill dogs and cats in public shelters!
Gov. Richardson also signed into law a direct licensing bill that will allow public shelters to obtain drugs used for euthanasia directly instead of having to rely on a local veterinarian to obtain them. GO!
More States Taking on Gas Chambers
A number of states this year are considering legislation to ban animal gas chambers: GO!
GREAT NEWS!
We are excited to announce that the Macon City Shelter in Bibb County, GA is closing down their shelter on Mon, April 13th.
Assistance and support for this shelter is needed. Here's how you can be a part of this fantastic event; they need:
Table: 203-42DE Omni Weight and Exam Table W/Waste
Roll Around Caddy: 2176 W/Tool Panel
Banked Cage System: 126W4
Plastc-Coated Removable Cage Floors
4 Park Type Benches and Outside picnic table
2 plastic baby pools
Igloo Type Dog houses
Weed-eater
Leashes, Collars, Water Bowls, Towels (These are always needed)
Cage Dryer with Multi Cage Adapter Kit for Cage Dryer
Send items to Macon Animal Control, 1010 11th St, Macon, GA 31201
or call (478) 751-9200. Contactpatti.jones@cgafs.com or donna.conaway@ccmi1.com for more information. Thank you!
'Ol Southern Style
Listen here now!
'Ol Southern Style
Forgotten Shelter Dogs & Cats Suffer Horrific Torture under the Guise of Euthanasia.
Seventeen years of winks and nods by officials acting in violation of existing laws meant to protect animals from cruelty. Dogs and cats face slow suffocation while crammed together and left to die. No regulations exist that enforce the protection of these animals from cruelty. In crippling agony, many surviving animals then are dumped at landfills and buried alive. Living stray dogs and cats are being left by officials in trash bins.
The segment brings to light some prime examples of shelter cruelty that’s been going on for many years and will inform listeners of current pending bills to make it stop. It takes a close look at North Carolina as an example of where protection is still needed and educates listeners on how to take specific action.
UPDATE: GA Governor Signs Gas Chambers Ban into Law!
Since the original airing of this segment, Georgia has passed a ban on gas chambers. Bills are now pending in Louisiana, Pennsylvania!
'Ol Southern Style exposes the kind of cruelty that's happening across America. In most cases these are county shelters that are funded by US tax payer dollars.
With Guests: Animal Law Attorney, Laura Allen; Attorney and Founder/ Director of Lifeline Animal Project in Atlanta Rebecca Guinn; President of The Humane Society of Eastern NC Peter MacQueen; Biologist, Animal Control & Vet Tech Linda Cordry
Hosted by Katia Louise with DivaVega live in the chat room as the Coordinator for Simulcast Discussions.
Many thanks to Linda Cordry for her compassion and courage in helping to save Grace and end cruel gas chambers.
PA's Bill to Ban CO Gas Chambers
Pennsylvania Senate Bill 672, introduced by Sen. Sean Logan would mean an end to animal gas chambers in the state. Five public shelters still use CO gas chambers to kill shelter animals.
Update April 28, 2010: S.B. 73, which would ban the use of animal gas chambers in Louisiana, is now in the House of Representatives and assigned to the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Rural Development.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Find committee members here. (Just click on their names for contact information). If you live in Louisiana, fax or call them and urge them to vote YES to S.B. 73.
Contact your Louisiana state representative found here and urge him or her to vote YES to S.B. 73. Here is a list of all Louisiana state representatives with their contact information.
For more information including talking points, read Animal Law Coalition's report
Limited Gas Chamber Ban Passes a Legislative Committee in West Virginia
The West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a ban, S.B. 501, on use of gas chambers by public animal shelters.
An amendment would limit the ban, however, to apply only to new gas chambers, allowing use of existing chambers to continue. (more)
More Reasons to Ban Gassing
American Medical Association Study: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Can Cause Heart Damage to People
A recent study suggests carbon monoxide poisoning is harmful in ways no one suspected until now.
Carbon monoxide poisoning can result from exposure to the gas in a confined space such as operation of an animal gas chamber.
Carbon monoxide causes light-headedness and nausea and even unconsciousness.
Significantly, according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, severe poisoning can also damage the heart.
Researchers looked at 230 patients with moderate to severe carbon monoxide poisoning.
Nearly 40% of patients had heart damage related to the carbon monoxide poisoning.
Of those patients with heart damage, significantly more, 38% died within 7½ years after their poisoning. They mostly died from heart conditions. Of those with no heart damage, only 15 percent died in the same time period.
The point, according to researchers, is that carbon monoxide poisoning has effects in the future that may not be anticipated at the time of the exposure.
People may not even realize they are suffering exposure to this gas. It is very deadly. JAMA researchers recommended avoiding carbon monoxide gas altogether.
Isn't it time we stopped exposing shelter workers to this deadly gas? It's time to end the use of animal gas chambers.
Maisy loves attention but rarely gets it. It’s even harder now that she’s been debarked and has no voice. Maisy has been caged since September 18, 1997. (Iam's Lab) Photo credit: PETA
Join WFL Endangered Stream Live when we cover this issue in our next series of programming.
WFL ENDANGERED STREAM LIVE
“As guardians of nature in the stewardship of our planet, our endowment of intellect and creative talents are gifts to humankind that should be used for the benefit of all living creatures"
-Katia Louise
"Sentenced by Profile"
Protect Your Pet and from being killed due to randem legislation.
Photo Credits: Animal Law Coalition
Special Thanks to Laura Allen, Rebecca Guinn, Linda Cordrey, Peter Macqueen
Many times animals are denied food and water during the day before they are gassed to make clean up more convenient. There will be less feces and urine from the gassing if they are first starved and denied water. Of course, this only adds to their stress. 
In 1872, a Pennsylvania SPCA took the first pound contract in the United States, and took over the work of taking in stray dogs and introduced a gas chamber to replace old, slow, more painful practices of killing stray animals. The older accepted methods of killing companion animals was shooting, burying, and drowning. A gas chamber compared to these other, older barbaric means could certainly be considered an improvement, at that time.
Many thanks to Linda Cordry for her compassion and courage in helping to save Grace and end cruel gas chambers.
“As guardians of nature in the stewardship of our planet, our endowment of intellect and creative talents are gifts to humankind that should be used for the benefit of all living creatures" 
