Update Mar. 16: The Utah state Senate failed to pass H.B. 185 before the end of the legislative session, and the bill is now dead.  

The Utah House of Representatives had passed a substitute version of H.B. 185 that would restrict the means of killing shelter animals to "lethal injection" and carbon monoxide gas chambers with certain restrictions.    

For more on this bill and what it means for the animals, read Animal Law Coalition's previous reports below.

Update Feb. 25, 2010: A substitute version of H.B. 185 has been accepted and if it passes the Utah legislature, will mean lethal injection must be used to kill shelter animals except in two situations: the animal presents a danger to staff or the restraint required for lethal injection would cause the animal "undue stress".

Pretty big exceptions that in some shelters will swallow the rule.

The bill would only allow commercially compressed gas to be used and animals must be separated, either killed one at a time or put in separate compartments. The bill would require safety guidelines to be in place for use of CO gas. 

The bill does not adopt a number of the AVMA guidelines for use of CO gas chambers including a ban on using CO gas on pregnant, young, sick or injured animals or animals with impaired breathing capacity. There is no requirement for a flow meter or monitoring equipment or that the chamber must have 6% concentration of gas within a short period of time to minimize suffering and avoid explosions. There are no requirements for view ports, adequate lighting, explosion proof equipment or training.

Lethal injection is not defined and intracardiac injection or heartstick is not prohibited at all. There is no requirement that sodium pentobarbital or a humane equivalent be used, opening the door for use of neuromuscular blockers. There is also no requirement that lethal injection be administered by a trained technician.  

The Utah bill in its current form is unlikely to mean much reduction in the use of largely unregulated CO gas chambers. It actually sanctions what could be worse ways to die - heartstick, neuromuscular blockers or lethal injection administered by untrained shelter staff.  

For more on what this means, read Animal Law Coalition's report below.

Original report: A bill has been introduced in the Utah legislature that would limit the methods of killing shelter animals to "lethal injection" or carbon monoxide gas chambers as long as only one animal is gassed at a time. H.B. 185 was just introduced by Utah state Rep. F. Jay Seegmiller.

The bill would make it illegal to use decompression chambers, electrocution, drowning, shooting, beating and other such horrific methods to kill shelter animals.  

It would be better to eliminate carbon monoxide gas chambers altogether given their cruelty and also the danger they present to shelter workers. A shelter worker in Tennessee died after breathing in CO gas from a chamber while he was unloading it. (As a result Tennessee banned used of CO gas chambers in animal shelters.) In North Carolina, for example, there have been explosions while the chamber was in use and inspectors have documented ongoing leaks and malfunctions that have endangered lives.  Attached at the end of this article are resources including American Veterinary Medical Association reports documenting the danger to humans.  

It is also clear that use of the gas chamber causes incalculable psychological suffering for many shelter workers. Animals don't lose consciousness or die until there is a build up of the CO gas in their lungs. This is particularly true for young, old, sick or injured animals. The AVMA Euthanasia reports confirm this. Shelter workers have documented that until that build up happens, they hear the piercing cries, howling, frantic calls, scratching and panic of animals. It is not uncommon for shelter workers to have to gas some animals a second time because of faulty equipment, guidelines are not followed or shelter workers are not trained to use it properly. North Carolina, Georgia and Missouri have documented cases where animals survived the gassing.  (Pictured here is Quentin, a dog who survived a gassing and was then rescued.)

If this bill is not amended at least to phase out use of CO gas chambers, it should at a minimum require shelters that use it to train and warn staff and follow AVMA guidelines which would include in addition to placing only one animal at a time in the CO gas chamber, (1) requiring the CO gas chamber to be commercially manufactured, (2) banning use of CO gas chambers for animals under 4 months of age, those that are sick or injured and pregnant; (3) maintaining a regulator, flow meter and monitoring equipment; (4) requiring viewing ports and a well lit interior, and (5) requiring the animal remain in the CO gas chamber for at least 20 minutes.

Take a look at the states that have banned CO gas chambers or strictly limited their use.  There are bills pending in Georgia and Michigan that would end the use of CO gas chambers in those states. 

Lethal injection under this bill should be clarified to mean lethal injection by sodium pentobarbital or like derivative (no neuromuscular blockers should be allowed) that is administered by a veterinarian, physician or person who has been trained to administer the injections. It should prohibit intracardiac injection also called heartstick, unless the animal is unconscious, anesthetized or comatose.   

The goal is to euthanize as few animals as possible, not argue over the best method for destroying them. But in the meantime, there is no reason to use dangerous, inhumane methods to destroy shelter animals. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO

If you live in Utah, contact your Utah legislators found here and urge state senators to ban CO gas chambers or phase them out and if they won't do that just yet, at least set minimum standards for their use as described in this article. Also urge legislators to adopt lethal injection of sodium pentobarbital as the exclusive method of euthanasia for shelter animals but let them know that this method must be done right or it can be just as cruel - staff should be trained properly to administer the injections and heartstick should not be allowed.  

Be polite - and let your legislators know you live in their district!