In March, 2007 Chesley Morton and Jennifer Robinson filed suit in Fulton County, Georgia Superior Court, claiming the state Department of Agriculture and its Commissioner, Tommy Irvin, have long violated state law. They alleged violation? The state Department of Agriculture and Irvin condone the use of gas chambers to kill animals in public shelters.  

Morton is a former member of the Georgia House of Representatives who sponsored the Georgia Humane Euthanasia Act which became law in 1990. O.C.G.A. §4-11-5.1  That statute mandates that the use of sodium pentobarbital or a derivative must be the exclusive method for euthanasia of animals in public shelters.  O.C.G.A. §4-11-5.1(a); Ga. Comp. R. & Regs §40-13-13-.08(1)

There are exceptions, however, that have allowed some shelters to continue to use animal gas chambers in Georgia. The statute specifically exempts or grandfathers in those gas chambers in use at the time the Humane Euthanasia Act became effective on July 1, 1990 "if such animal shelter or facility notifies the Commissioner of Agriculture, in writing, on or before August 1, 1990, that such a chamber was in use by such animal shelter or facility on July 1, 1990."  O.C.G.A. 4-11-5.1(b)(1).

Rural counties with populations less than 25,000 people are also exempt from the ban on animal gas chambers.  O.C.G.A. §4-11-5.1(h).

Also, the statutes provides "in cases of extraordinary circumstance where the dog or cat poses an extreme risk or danger to the veterinarian, physician, or lay person performing euthanasia", then animal gas chambers may be used. O.C.G.A. §4-11-5.1(c) Basically, any dog or cat that a veterinarian or anyone else believes may bite them can be shoved into a gas chamber rather than euthanized by EBI.

Under this state law no animal may be left unattended during euthanasia. O.C.G.A. §4-11-5.1(f).

The other plaintiff, Jennifer Robinson, said that her dog, Pacino, got out and was picked up by Clayton County Animal Control. He was put to death in a carbon monoxide gas chamber before she could claim him.

The complaint in the case said that the state Department of Agriculture and Irvin have licensed animal shelters that illegally use gas chambers. They are also said to have inspected and approved the use of illegal chambers. Specifically, the Dept. and Irvin are alleged to have approved the use of gas chambers in Chatham County and Bulloch County and the installation of a chamber in 2005 in Tifton-Tift County.

The Cruelty of Animal Gas Chambers

Euthanasia by injection of sodium pentobarbital or EBI is far more humane than killing animals in carbon monoxide gas chambers. As the complaint described, several 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.

Last year 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.     

The plaintiffs in the case, Morton and Robinson, asked the court for an injunction, to require the state to comply with the law and stop issuing licenses to any new shelters that would use gas chambers and to refuse to renew licenses of current shelters that kill animals by gassing them.

The Court's Ruling

In a subsequent hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Cynthia D. Wright ordered the Georgia Department of Agriculture to enforce the 1990 Georgia Humane Euthanasia Act. 

The judge noted the Department and its commissioner had violated the law by permitting shelters, with "a wink and a nod," to gas animals to death for the past 17 years.

"We have an elected official, not a judge, who has clearly been told by the General Assembly, 'This is what needs to happen,' and has ignored what the General Assembly has said," Judge Wright said in her ruling.  

The evidence presented at the hearing established animals suffer greatly in gas chambers.  There was testimony about animals who were gassed 2-3 times before they finally succumbed. The staff can hear the frantic cries from animals inside the chamber as they die.

Mary Green, director of animal protection for the Department of Agriculture, testified several counties use gas chambers to kill dogs and cats though some may be exempt under the law.  But she acknowledged at the time this lawsuit was filed, her staff only located one request from a county for an exemption.

Subsequent Contempt Hearing

Following Superior Court Judge Cynthia Wright's ruling, spokespersons for Bulloch and Cobb Counties and the Warner Robins city shelter in Houston County announced gas chambers will continue to be used anyway.

But a cease and desist letter was sent to Cobb County officials. They ignored it, but in October, 2007 Judge Tom Campbell of Fulton County Superior Court found the state officials in contempt for failing to comply with the Georgia Humane Euthanasia Act.

The Georgia Humane Euthanasia Act can be found in Animal Law Coalition's Laws on this page.