The Reality of Animal Gas Chambers
What Really Happens
The use of gas chambers for euthanasia in animal shelters is legal in many states, but that doesn't make it any less of a barbaric form of torture for innocent, unwanted animals who are unfairly subjected to its fate.
It's not as innocent as you may be lead to believe; the animals don't just take one breath of the gas and drift off into unconsciousness. That's what animal lovers like myself desperately want to believe. But it's not the truth.
So what really happens once the chamber door is shut in the face of whimpering animals? A shelter worker turns on the gas, and carbon monoxide is pumped into the probably-overcrowded chamber.
It can take up to 40 minutes of agony for the carbon monoxide to build up in the animals' lungs in order to finally kill them. Here are the true, cold hard facts of what the animals experience during this torture, and suggestions that will help put an end to animal gas chambers and how to protect an animal from landing in such a situation in the first place.
1. Pain
The carbon monoxide causes the animals' eyes and nose to burn. They howl in pain. The cells in their body reject the carbon monoxide, and keep the animals from inhaling any oxygen. Therefore, they suffocate to death.
2. Panic
The frightened animals snap at each other and often fight. Baby puppies (yes, they are in there, too) begin to paw desperately on the chamber walls, trying to escape. They frantically dig their noses underneath the door, trying to get a breath of fresh air. This is truly heartbreaking.
3. Sometimes The Pain Isn't Enough
Some animals have to suffer a second round of the torture chamber because they didn't die the first time.