Sunday, March 27, 2011

How to kill your pet

Animal lovers demand the province do away with its gas chambers

by ELISABETH FAURE

March 10, 2011

DEATH BE NOT PAINFUL: Alanna Devine and friend Photo by SHARON DAVIES

DEATH BE NOT PAINFUL: Alanna Devine and friend
Photo by SHARON DAVIES

It’s a scene that’s painfully familiar to most pet-owners (or anyone who’s watched Marley and Me): The vet gives you time alone to say goodbye, before administering a lethal injection to your elderly or ailing pet. You tearfully embrace your furry friend for the last time, and bid them adieu. But for many stray, feral or abandoned animals in Montreal, such a humane sendoff is impossible. Animal-rights activists are upset the provincial government isn’t willing to outlaw gas chambers as a euthanasia method in Quebec’s pounds and shelters.

“Gas chambers are a barbaric and archaic method of euthanasia that cause distress and suffering to animals,” says Nat Lauzon, creator of the Montreal Dog Blog (montrealdogblog.com). Lauzon calls gas chambers “disgusting,” and says their use reflects poorly on Quebec. “The only way to euthanize an animal should be by a humane injection of sodium pentobarbital.”

Critics say gas chambers cause traumatic asphyxiation to animals, and the time it takes for them to die of carbon monoxide poisoning needlessly extends their suffering. The smells, sounds and presence of other animals in the chamber can also cause acute distress.

Liliana Danel opposes gas chambers. She wrote a scathing post on Lauzon’s blog, blasting Pierre Corbeil, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. She is angry that the ministry has-n’t acted on a 900+ signature petition submitted in December 2010, asking the province to institute a ban. She argues the Minister has “no interest in animal welfare.”

But the issue isn’t that simple, says Alanna Devine, director of animal welfare at the Montreal SPCA, which has no gas chamber. She sits on a task force helping the province draft new guide lines on animal welfare, to be published within the year. She says the lack of a gas-chamber ban in the new guidelines will be a “disappointment,” but did note that other reforms may, if imple mented, cut down on their use. Among them is easing the restriction on sodium pentobarbital.

Currently, the drug is regarded as among the most humane ways of euthanizing an animal. But because they are usually administered intravenously, in Quebec, only licensed vets can obtain the drug. While some for-profit pounds may use gas chambers to save money, many well-intentioned shelters with low budgets or in remote areas don’t have a full-time vet. This leaves staff with no choice but to euthanize via gas chamber.

Devine, who supports a gas chamber ban, wants to see new direct-licensing laws in place for sodium pentobarbital, similar to those in the U.S. There, in most states, licensed euthanasia tech nicians (certification requirements vary from state to state) are legally allowed to purchase and administer the drug.

Danel agrees that the current law is a problem, and urges concerned citizens across the province to contact Minister Corbeil, voicing their displeasure. “We have to really push our point, to make him understand this has to stop,” she says.

Devine says she hopes to see direct-licensing laws in place in the next two years. And as long as putting animals down is necessary, she hopes that the unhappy task can be done as painlessly as possible.

“Euthanasia is not something that we like doing, that we enjoy talking about, and we try to do it as little as possible,” says Devine. “But when we have to do it, it’s important that the animal be treated as humanely as possible. For some animals, this may be the only act of kindness they ever experience in their life.”

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