WHAT'S NEXT

Tell the Garland, Texas Animal Shelter to Retire the Gas Chamber
  1. Signatures
    2,043 out of 2,500
    Petitioning
    1. Mayor (+ 11 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • Mayor (Ronald Jones)
      • Beth Dattomo
      • Douglas Athas
      • Laura Perkins Cox
      • Preston Edwards
      • John Willis
      • Barbara Chick
      • Rick Williams
      • Garland City Manager (Bill Dollar)
      • Animal Services Manager (Diana Oats)
      • Larry Jeffus
      • Darren Lathen
  2. Created By
    Michelle Hodkin
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
How We Won

Dec 10, 2010

The Garland Animal Shelter had been using carbon monoxide to euthanize homeless shelter animals, despite the fact that many consider the method cruel and it's outlawed in several states. After a year of protests by local activists and more than 2,000 messages sent by Change.org community members, the Dallas News reported that, in early December, the Garland Animal Shelter quietly dismantled their gas chamber. They expect to have new humane euthanasia procedures fully implemented by the end of the month.

Something is rotten in Garland, Texas. And the Citizens for Reform of the Animal Shelter are trying to stop it. 

The Garland Animal Shelter (appropriately acronymned the GAS) has been using carbon monoxide to euthanize homeless shelter animals, despite the fact that the practice is outlawed in many other states. 

While a memorandum on gassing has since been passed this year, only allowing the procedure to be used on “vicious dogs, feral cats, wild animals or other animals that present a significant danger to shelter staff,” that still leaves 31% of dogs and cats facing the chamber. And there really is no excuse. 

Only 44% of animals that end up in the GAS ever make it out. While that number is up from an even more egregious 34% in 2009, it isn’t remotely enough. While the mayor, Ron Jones, and shelter manager, Diana Oats, speak of other improvements to the shelter, the fact remains that the shelter is gassing animals when it doesn’t have to.    

The American Humane Association has an extensive collection of research that demonstrates how euthanasia by injection is not only more humane to animals and safer for humans, but is less costly for shelters, as well. Even the National Animal Control Association has condemned gassing as an inhumane method of euthanasia. And because GAS is already utilizing EBI for a significant percentage of homeless animals, there is no valid reason for refusing to employ it with all of the animals in their care. 

Join with me and the citizens of Garland, Texas, to encourage the city of Garland and the staff of the GAS to end this inhumane practice. The homeless animals of Garland, Texas, would thank you themselves if they could. 

Photo credit: henrycountyhumanesociety

Recent Signatures

Please End the Practice of Euthanasia by Gassing at the Garland, Texas Animal Shelter

Greetings,

As you are aware, the Garland Animal Shelter is, unfortunately, part of a small minority of animal shelters that still employs the use of a gas chamber as a viable method of animal euthanasia. And while the recent memorandum only allowing the procedure to be used on “vicious dogs, feral cats, wild animals or other animals that present a significant danger to shelter staff,” that still leaves 31% of dogs and cats facing the chamber. But for those helpless, faultless animals comprising that 31%, that percentage is far too high.

The American Humane Association opposes gassing on the grounds that it is inhumane to animals and unsafe for human beings. It is inhumane because when applied correctly, gassing can still take up to 25 to 30 minutes to end an animal’s life, whereas EBI causes loss of consciousness within 3 to 5 seconds and clinical death within 2 to 5 minutes. It is unsafe because when carbon monoxide is released in a confined area, it can cause asphyxiation, kidney damage, or induced coma — gas chambers must be constantly checked and maintained to ensure no cracks in the structure or failing seals, and the consequences of failing to do so may even potentially expose your shelter to liability.

But more than gassing being inhumane and unsafe, research shows that gassing is also more expensive, costing approximately $2.37 more per animal than euthanasia by injection. Even the National Animal Control Association has condemned gassing as inhumane, in the same breath that it condemns electrocution, gunshot, and blunt force trauma as inhumane methods of euthanasia for shelter animals.

You are probably already aware of these arguments, given the fact that the Garland Animal Shelter is euthanizing the majority of its animals by injection now. But this step isn’t enough — even “vicious,” “feral” and “wild” animals would be more safely and humanely euthanized by injection, as extensive research demonstrates.

And for the animals, I implore you join the vast majority of American animal shelters and usher in the new decade with a new, more humane policy that ends gassing for all the homeless animals of Garland, Texas.

[Your name]

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