Companion Animal Care Articles from All-Creatures.org

The last three gassing pounds in America

From Nathan Winograd
June 2024

When the chamber fills with gas, the animals inside gasp for breath, feel a searing pain in their lungs, and often claw at the chamber door or throw themselves against the sides, desperately trying to escape.

There are only two U.S. states where the gas killing of dogs and cats is still legal — Missouri and Wyoming. And in those states, there are only three pounds where they are still used.

In Missouri, that pound is in Poplar Bluff.

In Wyoming, the pounds are in Evansville and Green River.

The Green River police department, which oversees the facility, said that pound staff who gas animals to death care about them and treat them “fairly,” a claim no one believes as there is no progressive sheltering agency of any scope or stature willing to embrace gas systems for the killing of animals. When the chamber fills with gas, the animals inside gasp for breath, feel a searing pain in their lungs, and often claw at the chamber door or throw themselves against the sides, desperately trying to escape.

Unfortunately, efforts to shut down the gas chamber in Green River were dealt a setback after Best Friends Animal Society gave the pound a “national award” for its “achievements,” even though it spent the year gassing animals.

Posted on All-Creatures.org: June 14, 2024
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