The purpose of this letter is to seek your support on an issue I find dear to my heart. It is on the inhumane method of killing our healthy adoptable dogs and cats, i.e., carbon monoxide gassing. I recently viewed a video on this practice. I was unaware of this practice and am now committed to stopping it. As a show of my commitment, I walked from Currituck, North Carolina to Washington, DC. I will briefly describe what happens when dogs and cats are gassed.

One by one dogs of all sizes are dumped into a container. They are packed in so tightly they do not have room to move much less stand except on each other. At first the dogs look up at you with their tails wagging obviously thinking danger is not imminent. They trust their human caregivers. This could not be further from the truth. The container’s lid is put in place which throws the dogs into total darkness. We can only imagine their confusion and sheer fright at this point. “Man’s best friends” start to whimper, yelp, and claw; their flight senses kick in. You then hear a hissing sound from the gas being turned on. The dogs’ initial reaction is the inability to breathe thus causing more panic. They start screaming, howling, and thrashing in a fruitless attempt to escape. To no avail they die an awful death which is long and torturous. Gassing normally takes about 40 minutes. When silence besets the container, the lid is removed and more dogs are dumped in. The caregivers (if that is what you can call them) pile live dogs on top of the dead ones. Then the process starts again. Often, through a miracle, some dogs survive and seek relieve and comfort when the lid is opened. Unfortunately they must relive this nightmare for a second time.

I cannot tell you how much this has affected me. For most of my life I have been involved with dogs and cats, from working in a pet store to owning a sole proprietorship dog grooming shop. Our dogs have such amazing innate traits that are used to improve humans’ lives. As you know, dogs are trained as guides for the sight-impaired, as bomb sniffers with the Armed Forces, as searchers in rescue events. But when we are “done” with them, many states allow our furry friends to be killed with carbon monoxide gassing or with a heart stick. This is considered barbaric and inhumane. As a civilized nation we do not use such techniques on criminals. One story that exemplifies a cat’s usefulness is about a woman who was in a coma and the doctors felt there was nothing else medically that could be done for her. The woman’s daughter thought her mother needed to be near and smell her beloved cat so the cat was brought to the hospital. The medical staff allowed the cat to rest on her chest, to purr in her ear, and to lick her cheeks. Within a week the woman opened her eyes and spoke the cat’s name. This is nothing short of a miracle for which the cat was a major part according to the woman’s doctors.

On a more personal note, the consequences gassing has on shelter employees is often not recognized nor acknowledged. I know from my experience that most shelter employees want to hold and comfort a frightened animal in its final moments of life. With gassing they cannot do that. They often struggle with demoralizing mental ailments and physical anguish. I’ve heard the argument that “no one is forcing them to work there.” Yes that is a true statement but many of these shelters are run by the state or local governments which offer needed benefits. These jobs are unfortunately steady due to the lack of strong spay and neuter programs and are available when there is not much else for high school graduates. Many are “forced” to stay based on economics. When one individual heard of my walk, he wrote to offer his sad thoughts on the process: “I walk out as fast as I can. I walk into the bathroom, and I take a pin and draw blood from my hand. Why? The pain and blood take my brain off of what I just did. In 40 minutes I have to go back and unload the dead animals. I pray that none survived, which happens when I overstuff the chamber. I pull them out with thick gloves and the smell of carbon monoxide makes me sick. So does the vomit and blood, and all the bowel movements. I pull them out, put them in plastic bags. They are in heaven now I tell myself. I then start cleaning up the mess.”

I am not a professional zoologist, veterinarian, nor a member of any animal rights organizations; I am just a lifelong animal lover that adores God’s creatures. I firmly believe that we should not euthanize unwanted dogs and cats; they deserve a place on our great earth. However, if that is not possible then they should be treated with respect, dignity, and humanely euthanized. Gassing is barbaric and unnecessary. We must set an example for the world.

So I ask you my friend how much more do our animals have to suffer? Let's demand that Washington, D.C. make this a federal offense. We must march in Washington if we want this inhumane way of killing our animal to stop. If you are finally ready to top the pain our animals endure along with our own pain please visit these 2 links and sign the petition and like the page where you can stay informed of when we will march in Washington. Your voice needs to be heard so please join in on our cause

https://www.facebook.com/HelpFightAgainstAnimalCruelty?ref=ts&fref=ts

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/715/328/715/cruelty-to-animalh