Update On Utah Gas Chamber Shelter

These two cute Guinea pigs are training for the pet Olympics!
There is a horrific picture that should go with this post but none of us had the heart to post it.  It was too brutal and heartbreaking, so we went with the Guinea pigs instead.

We just wanted to make a few announcements and explain why we haven't updated the blog in the last few days.  We have been so busy working with our good friend Jaimie, from thoughtfurpaws, plus many other animal organizations & animal activists.  We have been doing everything we can to stop a shelter in Utah from their plans on building a gas chamber, to perform euthanasia, on all their unwanted pets.  This method as you all know is barbaric and considered to be cruel by every other animal organization and true animal lover.

We have spoken with the mayor and one of their council members several times over the last few days, trying our best to put a stop to this.  Tomorrow we have two phone calls to make that will hopefully join all the animal organizations, activists and animal lovers, that are involved in this fight.  We will keep you posted on the progress.  For everyone who has written to them to voice your opinion on the matter, we applaud you and thank you so very much.  In case anyone else wishes to help make a difference we will provide the mayors e-mail below and the council members.  If you write an e-mail to one you can just copy and paste it to each one, if you wish.

The mayor Russ Wall seems to be a caring man who really wants whats best for these animals.  The only problem is that the shelters director, Kelly Davis, is doing everything he can to prove his point, that using gas chambers as a form of euthanasia is painless and good for the pets.  I have argued every false claim he has made with facts from the AVMA, HSUS, ASPCA and many other animal organizations.  The problem is we are not there and he is doing everything he can to mislead the mayor and council members. 

He or someone even had the audacity to make the mayor witness 7 acts of euthanasia to prove her/their point.  The huge problem is, that that person did it by intentionally performing lethal injection euthanasia, against AVMA's recommended methods.  The shelter out there made him watch one gas chamber euthanasia that apparently went well and quickly.  Experts we have spoken to( After they have seen all the facts and e-mails) all agree that he or whomever was responsible, may have used such a high dose to ensure no complication.  Which no shelter could afford to do when nobody is watching.  Then the shelter performed 6 euthanasia's by lethal injections and half or more of them by way of abdominal injections.  Which is not a recommended way of lethal injection by every animal organization, because of the extended length of time it takes for death to occur and the possible chance of any unnecessary pain.  It is a known fact, that all animals being euthanized by lethal injection should be done so intravenously.

What kind of fair argument is this shelter trying to prove by comparing one method with 1 example compared  to 6 examples using the other method?!  What this shelter did to these poor dogs & cats on purpose to try and prove their point, should be considered severe cruelty or even murder.  They intentionally made those poor animals suffer more, so they can continue to build a gas chamber.  Shelters worldwide are known to favor gas chambers because only one staff member is needed for this type of torture, compared to two employees needed for lethal injections.  This is an outrage and we cannot allow them to get away with this!

This is the Mayors last statement to us after he viewed what a shelter( We do not know which one at this time) wanted and ill intentionally caused him to see.

"Bottom line for me is that after two days of observation, and after reading much information (and disinformation), and after much discussion with the people who have to deal with this regularly, I believe that most euthanasia procedures could and perhaps should be done by lethal injection. But there are many times when that form of euthanasia causes much more stress on animals (and human handlers) than a 15-30 second procedure in a CO chamber. I know many people may disagree but I saw what I saw and pray to God that I never have to do see any form of euthanasia again."

Just for the record the AVMA states that some pets have been known to take as long as 14 minutes to pass away, with this cruel form of euthanasia!  On top of that it is also a known fact that some pets survive all that suffering and then must be put down by other methods.  Include all that, the added pain and risks to health staff and you have to wonder why any shelter, that is supposed to love animals more then anyone, would want to do such cruelty.  The reasons know worldwide are saving money with only having to use one technician and because they can cram many animals in the gas chamber at one time.  Talk about cruel and barbaric reasons!!!!!

We also pointed out something very important to the mayor.  We asked him if he owned a restaurant and knew the inspector was visiting a certain day, would your restaurant not be in tip top shape?  That's what this shelter was doing because they knew that if they wanted to continue using their gas chamber, they had to make it seem to be the best choice and make lethal injection look horrible.  There have been a number of studies done by the AVMA & HSUS, ASPCA etc... and all of them agree that lethal injections are the safest, stress free, painless, fastest and most humane method of euthanasia.

Please voice your opinion on this shelters plan and of this form of euthanasia, to the following;

To voice any strong oppositions and to tell the Shelters Operations director, Kelly Davis, how barbaric his plans are for planning on using this form of euthanasia, then here is his contact info.

Kelly Davis
Operations Director, Animal Services
West Valley City
4063 South 7200 West
West Valley City, UT. 84044
(801) 963-3364 Office
(801) 252-7541 FAX
kdavis@wvc-ut.gov

To contact the mayor( who is a very nice man) directly to voice your opinion, then here is his contact information.

Mayor Russ Wall - rwall@taylorsvilleut.gov    1-(801) 963-5400

The nicest person we spoke to thus far is Corey Rushton but the more opposition to this shelters plan, the better it is, for those poor animals. Here is his info.

Council Member Corey Rushton - Corey.Rushton@wvc-ut.gov

Their local news station aired a story but i have to warn you the images are disturbing.  If you still wish to watch the video, Click Here.

Thank you all so much and any help, suggestions or media contacts, would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

[Darrin & Josy]

We just found out late last night and will update the post shortly.

[Suzanne]

You know Kelly Davis is a man, right?

[Darrin & Josy]

Thank you so very much Jaimie and your post was very moving. One can only pray that those towns will see the cruelty involved with that from of euthanasia.

We may have to start flooding the e-mail boxes of some media station in their area. Whatever it takes, we will do it. Thank you so much again and God Bless.

Darrin & Josy

[Jaime]

Hi guys,

good update, i just posted this on my blog as well. the more people we can get to read this, the better. i have had a small army send letters off to these people so lets continue to stay on top of this.

thank you so much, god bless

jaime
thoughtsfurpaws