There is a small, grass-roots campaign happening to stop the use of the gas chamber in Spalding County, Georgia. Please write a letter to each of the five commissioners as well as to the county manager. (These folks do not have email . Letters must be sent via U.S. mail.) Ask them to stop the use of the gas chamber. Feel free to use the sample letter below.  A copy is attached to this article that you can download. Whatever you write, please be polite.
 
The short time required for you to send these letters could help convince these people to hire the staff and allocate the funds to perform euthanasia by properly administered lethal injection.
 
Please don't let this opportunity slip away. Your voice matters. Don't let the $.41 stamp deter you.
 
The address is:
 
P.O. Box 1087
Griffin, GA 30224
 
The names are:
 
William P. Wilson, Jr., County Manager
Commissioner Eddie Freeman (Chairman)
Commissioner Edward Goss
Commissioner Gwen Flowers-Taylor
Commissioner David Phillips
Commissioner Johnie McDaniel
 
http://www.spaldingcounty.com/commissioners/countycommissioners.htm

Click on these links for a look at Georgia's Humane Euthanasia Act and the litigation this year to stop use of gas chambers in Georgia.

Sample Letter:

(Date)

County Commissioner ___________(or County Manager William P. Wilson, Jr.)

P.O. Box 1087
Griffin, GA 30224

Dear Commissioner _________ (or County Manager William P. Wilson, Jr.)

I ask that Spalding County stop using the animal gas chamber and rely on properly administered lethal injection or EBI as the means of euthanasia.

It is first a matter of public safety. The American Veterinary Medical Association has warned of the danger to shelter workers from animal gas chambers.  

Remember CO is an odorless, colorless gas. The AVMA warns, "Most of these agents are hazardous to personnel because of the risk ... or health effects resulting from chronic exposure". It has been reported, "Carbon monoxide is a hazardous substance considered especially dangerous because it is odorless, tasteless, colorless, and explosive. Repeated exposure to CO, even at low levels, can result in many serious long-term effects including (but not limited to) cancer, infertility, and heart disease."

In Tennessee a shelter worker died while destroying an animal in a gas chamber. He died of CO poisoning. As a result Tennessee has banned the use of gas chambers.

As for cost, in one study in September 2000 concluded that to euthanize 10,000 animals per year, cost of gassing averages $13,230 (excluding the cost of intravenous injection as a back-up method) while lethal injection averages $12,700. Many other studies have found negligible cost differences between the two methods of euthanasia.

The American Humane Association and Animal Protection Institute have stated lethal injection is the only acceptable method of euthanasia. Many states now mandate lethal injection as the only method of euthanasia allowed. It is reported less than 1% of shelters in the U.S. continue to use the gas chamber. Lethal injection is preferred by nearly all veterinarians, private rescues and shelters and, in fact, most public shelters.

There is no question shelter workers have documented the piercing cries, howling, frantic calls, scratching and panic of animals as they are gassed. Just putting them in the chamber is frightening for animals. The chamber is hot, confining and often smells probably like death. They don't know what is happening and they immediately experience panic and distress.

I believe it is wrong to subject shelter workers to this. I believe no shelter worker wants to cause a moment let alone minutes of acute distress, fear, panic and anxiety in any animals. Nor do they want to subject themselves to what is becoming increasingly clear are hidden dangers from CO exposure even at very low levels. It makes sense, then, and as a matter of humane treatment, to implement lethal injection as the only method of euthanasia.

Sincerely,

__________________