Comments on: Illinois Bill Would Ban Carbon Monoxide Euthanasia

By: shelby

shelby — Mon, 19 May 2008 01:38:49 +0000

I believe that it is inhumane to use gas chambers, especially when dogs are able to feel pain. would you like to see your grandma suffer 45 min. to die, purposely???? no. why do animals not have the right to live, or die humanely? maybe there is an over population but there are ways to stop things such as this. it’s wrong. ughhhhh

By: emily

emily — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:20:42 +0000

I would note that if a person is smart enough to get into vet school just wants to make a lot of money there are easier ways available to them to make a whole lot more money than a vet does. There is good and bad in every profession.

By: Barbara A. Albright

Barbara A. Albright — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 23:29:23 +0000

Having witnessed inhumane euthanasia with my own dog “Pocket”, here in New Hampshire on October 18, 2006, via the toxic chemical potassium chloride (overdose) as sole agent intraveneously, I can’t fathom how inhumane euthanasia is still allowed anywhere in the USA. Humane euthanasia solution (sodium pentobarbital) is CHEAP—-no excuses !!

For an animal, there are lots of things far worse than death, fraud,torture, and cruelty. I live EVERY single day with the memory that I could not even provide her with a humane death. Animal and human cruelty go hand in hand.

“Pocket’s Story from NH” or http://walnut-hill.bravehost.com

By: G in INdiana

G in INdiana — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 12:30:50 +0000

kathy, that’s why I love my vets. They are old time farm vets who do not have tall the whiz bang fancy stuff in their offices. They charge the same rate now as they did in 1998 when we started going to them. The same receptionists and assistants are there today, They do not take on vet students or just graduated vets trying to learn the ropes. They have both been in the same place for over 20 years.
They told us what they do with the unclaimed animals and it is off to the rendered for them, just like when a cow or horse dies on a farm. It is not illegal. Unsavory but not illegal.
What is wrong with the vet Stefani wrote of is the lies he told about the lies he was telling to his clients. He should have been straight with them as our vets are with their clients. While we do have places to bury large dogs and cats, most folks do not. Most people leave their deceased pet with the vet and pay a disposal fee, according to my vet’s receptionist.
Our vets pay to have the carcasses removed, they do not get paid FOR them.

By: Denise

Denise — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 02:39:05 +0000

Hi Kathy and Stefani, I know exactly what you mean Kathy. Stephanie, just thinking you could kind of drop the hint somwhere without letting them know who you are. If you don’t feel comfortable you are right not to do it. you don’t want them knowing it came from you. we are not made like that none of us here. I just wonder what kind of person could do that job. I mean she sounds like she didn’t see the cats has living beings it haunts me and I wasn’t even there. I almost everyone had to spay and neuter there animals to cut this breeding down. there are to many of them out there. its just heartbreaking. Stfani just reading your note at the bottom of the page. He is a bad person and so was that awful women. I sure ope one day they will get what they deserve. it’s just not human to be like that. take care everyone here. Denise

By: kathy

kathy — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:26:57 +0000

My experience, Stefani, Denise, and everyone else—vets are vets because they want to make a lot of money. If you find one that is an animal lover, hang on for dear life!

By: Stefani

Stefani — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:34:56 +0000

Denise, thanks for your kind words. It was awful, and the way she described the cats struggles — it haunts me.

But this was 20+ years ago, and as HORRIBLE as it is — this makes it more horrible — I am pretty sure he didn’t break any laws.

I don’t know where he got those cats, but he might have been euthanizing shelter cats at a reduced cost to the shelter, and then turning around and selling their bodies to a rendering plant. I doubt that was illegal, although it should be.

Also, 20+ years ago in Virginia (where this occurred), I doubt the carbon monoxide chamber was an illegal euthanasia method. But even if it was, how could I even prove it existed? The whole hospital has been gone for years.

If I went to the press with this story, all it would get me is a lawsuit.

If it’s any consolation, he does have a disciplinary record with the state. So that’s something. But it is for something totally minor. Not this.

Stefani

By: Denise

Denise — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:29:37 +0000

Oh stephanie, that is an awful thing to have to go through. These people were crazy. Oh those poor animals. they must have been making dog and cat food. I think we need very strict spay and neuter laws in this country. it would cut this down. So I was thinking I live in michigan and we have channel 7 news abc. They have an investagator. I wonder if you could contact someone and not give your name and have him checked out in someway. I know he is in a different business but he sounds like he should not be working with human beings. gosh how awful for you. You never forgot that. you were young and didn’t know and they knew it. take care Denise

By: The Lioness

The Lioness — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:54:40 +0000

It’s great news that more states are getting with the times and banning this awful practice! Change can’t happen fast enough, but it’s nice to see change happening at all.

Stefani, what a horrible, horrible experience! I’m so sorry you had to endure that kind of environment and awfulness!

~The Lioness

By: Stefani

Stefani — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:23:38 +0000

BTW, thank you Candace, for a very well researched piece.

Stefani

By: Stefani

Stefani — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:35:49 +0000

In 1984, when I took a semester off from college, one of the jobs I had was as a receptionist at a vet hospital.

I soon realized that the vet was using one of these chambers to euthanize cats. He wasn’t even doing it himself. He had a veterinary assistant who seemed like a crazy woman, who did this after hours. The interesting thing was, these cats were not cats that clients had brought it — there were always all these cats in cages back there, that this nutso seeming woman would euthanize after hours. We also had a freezer chock full of dead bodies, mostly cats.

I was young and naiive, and worked there only briefly. I took that job with every expectation that vets love animals and the euthanasias were necessarly and humane. But then, one night when I was the only person after hours with the nutty freak, she came out cackling and laughing about how the cats struggle and freak out to the death in the chamber. It was bloodchilling.

I should have quit that moment, but I didn’t — quite yet.

A client called asking about euthanasia for her ailing pet. When she realized she could not afford the cost of cremation (the vet would only do it if you bought the urn, and I think it was about $100 — which was a lot more money then than it is now, this was more than 20 years ago), she asked what would happen to her pets body if she didn’t get him cremated. We weren’t allowed to release the body to her. I put her on hold and went to ask the vet. He told me that the animals were buried in a common grave by the health department. So, I got back on the line and told the lady. But the vet came behind the desk and heard me. He yelled at me: “Don’t you EVER let me hear you tell that to a client again! If you get a question like that you transfer the call to me!” I guess he didn’t realize that I was asking for a client, but I had no idea what I had done wrong, and his reaction shocked me - - after all, this is what he had just told me!

Days later, all the pieces fell together, even in my young naiive brain. That night I was the only one after hours with the crazy assistant. She was in the back doing what she did after hours, I presume.
A man came to the door in a service outfit. He said: “I’m from Braun company, I’m here for a pickup.” His speech was garbled, I was having a hard time understanding, so he handed me a card. It said:

“Braun Company
We Buy Bones, Meat, Fat and Gristle.”

I figured out why all those cats were always back there waiting to be put in the gas chamber by the crazy assistant who cackled as she heard their struggles. I realized why we had a freezer full of dead animals all the time. I realized why the vet yelled at me for telling the lady the apparent lie he had told me — that unclaimed deceased animals were given to the Health Department for burial in a common grave.

Needless to say, that was it for me there.

That clinic has long since closed, but the vet in question is now a practicing acupuncturist in our area and I have seen his name on some of those “best vets” lists. I wish I could name him but I have no doubt he would sue me, as this was 20 years ago and I have no evidence remaining of this, except my very vivid and disturbing memories.

Stefani
The Toonces Project
http://www.TheTooncesProject.com
“Is Your Pet Safe at the Vet?”

By: Margaret

Margaret — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:26:51 +0000

Welcome to the current world! I live in Canada and Euthanasia other then by lethal injection was baned MANY years ago, as it has been in many countries world wide.
Just another reason the US is sooooo.. out of touch, and not respected by other countries anymore!

By: Nora and Rufus

Nora and Rufus — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:16:58 +0000

EVERY STATE should ban the gas chamber for animals and there is NO EXCUSE to not do that. It is a horrific experience for the poor animal and it SHOULD BE OUTLAWED IMMEDIATELY. ANYONE who condones this method is a barbaric waste of human garbage.

By: Hazel Chambers

Hazel Chambers — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:07:52 +0000

No animal should have to die in a gas chamber. Carbon monoxide is not a poisonous gas such as cyanide. It kills by asphyxiation. The red blood cells have a greater afinity for carbon monoxide that oxygen. They absorb this gas instead of the oxygen. The afinity in humans is 600 times greater…don’t know about animals. Anyway….they slowly suffocate because they can not get oxygen into the bloodstream.

By: catmom5

catmom5 — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:05:27 +0000

Great article. This issue has been in the back of my mind, but especially since I read an account by a young man whose job it was to “gas” the animals at a North Carolina animal control. He told of the horrors he and the animals endured, quite graphically. Those images have never left my mind. SO I am delighted to read that there are states and cities who are starting to do the right thing. It’s tragic that so many of these animals have to die for lack of homes, but particularly tragic to die is such a horrendous manner. Don’t we owe them at least a peaceful and gentle death? I will most definitely be reading up on my own state. Thanks for the information and the links. Maybe we can make a difference for some of these animals who die such a horrible death in these gas chambers or at the hands of cruel humans.