America's Dirty Little Dog Secret: End This Now!

Watching the HBO documentary, One Nation Under Dog: Stories of Fear, Loss, and Betrayal, last night revealed a glimpse into one of the dirty little secrets in the United States. I have seen several estimates of the number of dogs euthanized each year but even the lowest is in the millions. Many of these lose their lives in gas chambers. The opening scene of section 3 of this documentary was a horrifying, harrowing, and heartbreaking picture of one such event.

Let me describe the scene for you: several dogs were walked or carried to a modified trash skip and lifted inside. The lid of this skip was closed, a hose attached, and a gas – presumably carbon monoxide – introduced through the hose. The dogs could be heard whining, crying, and scrabbling for escape as they breathed the deadly vapor. This method does not cause instant death. The dogs have to breathe the gas until it reaches a sufficient level in their lungs and their bloodstream to kill them. After several minutes the crying was replaced by silence. This was not the end; worse was to come! The lid of the skip was opened to reveal the dead dogs. Then, the handlers began to carry several puppies and stand them on top of the corpses inside the skip. The process was repeated and again the whining, crying, and scrabbling filled the air until replaced by that heart-wrenching silence. Time and again the process was repeated until the skip was full of canine corpses. The video then switched to a picture of a refuse collection truck lifting the skip and unceremoniously dumping these once noble creatures into the onboard trash compactor.

These images will haunt me, possibly for the rest of my life.

Many states have prohibited such gas chambers in favor of euthanizing dogs by the injection of drugs such as pentobarbital. While euthanizing healthy animals remains unacceptable, this latter method is much more humane and, essentially, is the same method used by your personal vet when a medical issue becomes terminal. However, those of us in the animal rescue business know that what the law requires is not always what happens!

Please visit the website, Facebook page, or twitter feed of your favorite animal rescue organization to find out what they are doing to end this barbaric practice. WE MUST ALL ACT NOW!