NC Legislation- Davie's Law to end gas chambers

[Ilovealldogs]

This bill in NC would put an end to gas chambers used in roughly 32 shelters in NC. If you live in NC, please email your local reps to inform them of the importance of this bill. If you need email addresses, send me a pm. In less than one hour, I had a reply from one senator and one rep to say they both would be supporting this bill. We really need it to pass.

Here is the newspaper story inspiring the bill:


Left for dead, puppy
inspires Davie's Law

Alternative to gas proposed

By JENNIFER PREYSS
Staff Writer

Monday, February 09, 2009

When Susan Armsworthy followed her husband Jeff to the Davie County landfill four years ago to drop off construction materials, she wasn’t expecting to walk away a crusader for humane animal euthanasia.

But Armsworthy, who lives in Advance, also didn’t expect to find Davie, a 6-week-old puppy who had been discarded alive in the landfill.

“We dropped off the trash and I heard an animal crying under the pile,” Armsworthy recalled last week. “I looked at my husband and we just both started digging.”

When Armsworthy saw a black trash bag wiggle, she opened it up. Inside were four puppies, three of which were dead.

She and her husband would later discover that only moments before they arrived, Davie County Animal Control officials had discarded several large trash bags full of animals recently euthanized at a gas chamber.

Armsworthy recalls feeling angry that the officials had discarded a live animal.

“I was livid. I could not believe the county could do something so inhumane,” she said.

Armsworthy, who works at Village Way Veterinary Hospital in Advance, raced the puppy to her clinic to be examined. Dr. Beth Eubank, a veterinarian at the clinic, gave the puppy a clean bill of health.

Although the puppy — whom she named Davie after where he was found — was safe, Armsworthy decided she needed to do more. There might be other animals like Davie dropped off at landfills that were still alive after being gassed.

After telling her story to anyone who would listen, Armsworthy was contacted by Michele King of the North Carolina Coalition for Humane Euthanasia. She would learn that Davie County wasn’t the only place where unwanted animals were euthanized by gas.

Currently, North Carolina has 32 animal shelters that still use carbon monoxide gas to euthanize unwanted animals. Another 63 shelters primarily put down animals by lethal injection.

One of the 32 animal shelters still using gas is the one serving Chowan, Gates, Perquimans and Hertford counties.

King’s group would later join forces with the American Humane Association, the Animal Law Coalition and In Defense of Animals to back statewide legislation banning the use of gas chambers for euthanizing animals.

Last week, state Rep. Cary Allred and three cosponsors — state Rep. Rick Glazier, Rep. Ty Harrell and Rep. Pat McElraft — introduced the Humane Euthanasia in Shelters Act, or Davie’s Law, in the state House. The bill passed its first reading.

Armsworthy said she’s excited that something is being done to prevent what she considers animal cruelty, and that Davie is playing a role in it.

“I didn’t know (the bill) would be named after him, but I was really excited when I heard,” Armsworthy said.

If passed, the bill will require humane euthanasia by injection of sodium pentobarbital, or an oral ingestion of the drug, for all animals euthanized in the custody of shelters.

Supporters of the bill argue lethal injection is less expensive and a safer alternative for shelter workers who are regularly exposed to toxic carbon monoxide gases.

But mostly, Armsworthy and other backers of the bill would like to see an end to what they say is an inhumane form of death. Animals put down in gas chambers scratch and scream before passing out.

“I watched a video on YouTube of a gassing in Yadkin County, and it was terrible. I wish I’d never seen it,” Armsworthy said.

Since 2003, N.C. Coalition for Humane Euthanasia board member Alice Singh has been an active advocate for legislation banning the use of gas chambers to euthanize animals. The Yadkin County resident has been instrumental in leading the charge for Allred’s bill in Raleigh.

“I was down there last week handing out copies of the bill and other information,” Singh said. “I tried to explain to people that if more than 60 shelters can do away with gas chambers, why can’t the rest of them.”

Singh said she remains hopeful, but is not sure there’s enough public support for passing Davie’s Law in the current legislative session.

“I would love to see it pass, but I think it will get held up in committee,” she said. “North Carolina just doesn’t move as quickly on animal issues for some reason.”

As for the bill’s namesake, Davie is now a healthy and happy 55-pound mutt who Armsworthy says has turned out to be “a really great dog.”

“I’m glad he’s the poster child, but I’ll be disappointed if the bill doesn’t pass,” Armsworthy said. “(Being gassed is) an awful and disgusting way to die. I cringe every time I think about Davie going through it.”

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