Animal shelter dismantles gas chamber
Erin Hitchcock, The Record
Published: Saturday, September 15, 2007
New Westminster Animal Control will no longer be sending animals to the gas chamber.

"It's been dismantled. It is gone," Coun. Lorrie Williams said Thursday. "There is not a gas chamber anymore."

Williams, a past director of the Royal City Humane Society, said a staff report, prepared by Jon McDonald, manager of engineering operations, will be presented at Monday night's city council meeting regarding the elimination of the gas chamber at the city-run facility.

He (McDonald) said this is terrible, that we shouldn't have this box," she said, adding that she hadn't known animals were being gassed at New Westminster's animal control department. "I'm so pleased it was brought to our attention. ... I just assumed (animals) were being injected."

She said that from now on, all sick and injured animals will be taken to a veterinary clinic for assessment.

"There will not be any killing of animals (at the shelter)," Williams said, adding that if a sick or injured domestic animal is brought into the shelter, the animal control officers will attempt to find the owners.

If that fails, they will take the animal to a vet to receive either treatment or, if it's too severely injured or sick, a Euthanol injection - with the city picking up the bill.

"The injections will be done by veterinarians," Williams said, adding that the city will pay for all veterinary costs associated with the city's shelter.

Severely injured wildlife will most likely be taken to wildlife services in Burnaby, where they will receive necessary treatment, she said.

According to the report, Williams said, nine cats were euthanized in the gas chamber this year; 29 were adopted from the shelter; 24 were transferred to another facility or shelter; 15 are still at the shelter waiting for homes; and five were returned to their owners.

She said 23 dogs have been adopted this year; six have been transferred; and 58 were returned to their homes.

The issue regarding the use of a gas chamber was raised earlier this week in The Record after animal advocate Gerald Martin said New Westminster's animal control department has been using a gas chamber to kill animals.

He had said that gassing animals is barbaric and cruel and is "not euthanasia by any definition of the word (but is) animal murder."

Coun. Betty McIntosh said she doesn't know what kind of effect the gas chamber has on animals.

"I assumed it just puts them to sleep," she said, adding that she doesn't expect sending animals to the vet clinic to be too expensive and will therefore support staff's recommendation.

"Over the years, the staff have done a very humane job," she said. "It's a very emotional issue. They do the best they can."

McIntosh said there has been "minimal discussion" about the gas chamber at the shelter.

"It's not been much of an issue in this community," she said.

Coun. Calvin Donnelly said, until this week, he had never heard about the gas chamber being used at Animal Control and supports staff's recommendation to euthanize animals by injection only.
"It makes more sense to me," Donnelly said. "It's a little more humane."

Kris Taylor, president of the Royal City Humane Society, said the biggest problem with the gas chamber is not so much the physical trauma as it is the psychological distress an animal faces while being gassed.

Taylor said Euthanol injections shouldn't cost that much more.

"I don't think it would be too much to train someone to do that properly," he added.

He said the society has been lobbying the city for years to not only get rid of the gas chamber at Animal Control but also to improve the conditions at the facility.

"The cats don't get to see the light of day," Taylor said, adding that two to three sick cats are put inside small cages together because there isn't enough space.

"Because they're all put together, the diseases will spread."

"We've also been lobbying them (the city) for a spay and neuter bylaw. ... We constantly have been lobbying the city really hard to change their ways," he said, adding that the city shelter is poorly funded. "They share their facility with a towing facility."

Taylor said he would like to see a new shelter in New Westminster that resembles North Vancouver's city-run shelter.

"It's a beautiful facility," he said of the North Vancouver shelter. "We would love to see them (New Westminster) upgrade to something like that."

According to a source -who wishes to remain anonymous - while dogs haven't been gassed at the shelter, other animals such as cats and wildlife have.

The source said the shelter doesn't euthanize for space and it doesn't gas multiple animals at a time.

Only those that are sick and injured have been placed in the chamber.

The source said that the time it takes for a cat to die after being gassed varies anywhere from two to 10 minutes.

"The method of euthanasia is all wrong," the source said, adding that animals are also fully conscious when placed in the chamber.

"It must be psychologically traumatizing."

According to the source - who said lack of funding is the reason why animals haven't been taken to the vet to receive Euthanol injections - cats that have severe respiratory problems take longer to die because they can't take deep breaths.

Upper respiratory disease, the source said, is common at the shelter because many animals are kept in stressful and over-crowded conditions due to a lack of funding.

Because of the lack of funding, the source said, animal control officers often buy necessary medicine themselves because the shelter doesn't have a vet budget. And sometimes staff pay to have an animal euthanized at the vet.

They often buy toys and treats and sometimes food, dewormer and flea treatment in order to provide the animals with as much care as they can, the source said.

Not having a veterinary budget goes against the city's animal bylaw that says it is illegal to deny animals veterinary care if they need it, the source said.

"The New Westminster Animal Shelter does not have a volunteer program nor can they solicit donations," the source added.
"By not utilizing the free labour of the public, they deny their animals the benefits of foster programs and dog-walking programs."

The source noted that, by discouraging public involvement, possible donations that could be used for veterinary care are also discouraged.

"The more involved the public is, the more free labour is utilized and the more donation money is collected," the source said, adding that the Queen's Park Petting Zoo - which is funded by the city - is used for public entertainment and has a volunteer program and a sign that solicits donations.

Williams said she is going to try to get the city to change the way it sells pet licences.

One of the possibilities is to charge people a $5 fee if they get their pets spayed and neutered while charging people a larger fee if they don't get their pets fixed.

This, she said, may help reduce the number of homeless animals.

Williams said she will make a motion at Monday night's city council meeting for the city to provide more information on its website to direct people where to take found animals and what to do if they spot abuse.

© The Record (New Westminster) 2007

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WAY TO GO. NOW TO WORK ON ANY OTHERS STILL AROUND.

Char & Ziggy