VALDOSTA —
A bill to outlaw gas chambers as a method of animal euthanization was approved by the Georgia House of Representatives this week.
Area animal activists remain hopeful the bill will also receive support in the Senate.
Grace’s Law, approved by a vote of 115-46, would require that all Georgia animal shelters use lethal injection to put animals to sleep.
Kelli Affeldt, Humane Society of Valdosta/Lowndes County treasurer and secretary, is happy to hear the news and hopes the bill gets approved by the Senate.
“Times are changing and I think society needs to change with the times, become more humane and compassionate towards all beings,” she said. “It’s about time for those horrible gas chambers to be put to rest. They now serve no purpose other than it being easier on humans to deal with the pet overpopulation problem in this country. It’s not humane to gas animals. They suffer and convulse and it takes time for them to die — what a horrible way to go. I wish that on no living being.”
According to the Associated Press, state Rep. Tom Knox, the bill’s sponsor, “called gas chambers, which use carbon monoxide to euthanize pets, ‘pretty gory’ and described how animals gasp for air as they die.” Knox also reportedly stated that “lethal injection is more humane.”
The Associated Press reported that state Rep. Gene Maddox, a veterinarian from Cairo, “argued against the bill, saying for wild and feral animals who are not used to being handled by humans, carbon monoxide chambers are the most humane way to put an animal down.”
Knox said “only 10 or 11 (animal shelters) permit the use of gas chambers,” in the state of Georgia.
Linda Patelski, director of the Lowndes County Animal Shelter, said the shelter does not use gas chambers to put animals to sleep.
“We’ve always used lethal injection since we’ve been at our new building,” she said. “We have a gas (chamber), but we have not physically turned it on in five years.” Grace’s Law, known as House Bill 788, is named after Grace, a hound who survived gassing in 2006.
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