"Our movement is constantly asking itself if language we use is in keeping with our values to promote the sanctity of life. We ask ourselves and others whether we are "owners" of our animals or their "guardians." We ask whether animals should be referred to as "it" or as nhe"and "she." So why don't we question the most misleading term of them all?
"(Warning: this article graphically describes the shelter killing of a dog. It is not intended for shock value, but to demonstrate how population control killing is not always painless as shelters have led the public to believe, and to illustrate how misleading the term "euthanasia" is in this context.)"
Webster's dictionary defines euthanasia as "the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy.
"Using the term "euthanasia" when a shelter is killing for population control, because it has run out of cages, because a community has not budgeted adequate funding for the local shelter, or because the shelter is opposed to TNR or other progressive programs is misleading and incorrect.
"The killing in these cases has nothing to do with the animals being "hopelessly sick or injured," it is not an individual calculus as to the condition of one cat or dog, and it is not merciful when applied to healthy or treatable pets.
"Euphemisms like "euthanasia" or "putting them to sleep" obscure the gravity of what we are doing to cats and dogs as a society, and make the task of killing easier.
"Nor is it always entirely painless as anyone who has witnessed the killing of animals in a shelter can attest. With some animals, there is often fear, disorientation, nausea and many times even a struggle. A dog who is skittish, for example, is made even more fearful by the smells and surroundings of an animal shelter. He doesn't understand why he is there and away from the only family he has ever loved.
"To kill this dog, he may have to be "catch-poled," a device that wraps a hard-wire noose around the dog's neck. He struggles to free himself from the grip, only to result in more fear and pain when he realizes he cannot. The dog often urinates and defecates on himself, unsure of what is occurring. Often the head is held hard to the ground or against the wall so that another staff member can enter the kennel and inject him with a sedative.
"While the catch-pole is left tied around the neck, the dog struggles to maintain his balance, dragging the pole, until he slumps to the ground. Slowly—fearful, soiled in his own waste, confused—he tries to stand, but his legs give way. He is frightened by the people around him. He does not understand what is happening. He goes limp and then unconscious. That is when staff administers the fatal dose.
"If any word in the vernacular of animal sheltering is misleading, it is the term "euthanasia." We should no more use it when reporting statistics or when discussing killing, then we should in our interactions with the public or amongst each other. It is the very least of what we owe to the animals whose lives are ended.
"Euphemisms are misnomers used to disguise or cloak identity of ugly facts," wrote one commentator. To which the noted writer Albert Camus replied, "The truth is the truth, and denying it mocks the cause both of humanity and of morality."
"A more fitting description of "euthanasia" to describe shelter killing could not have been written.
Main Entry: eutha-nasia Pronunciation: "yu-th&-'nA-zh(E-)& Function: noun
Etymology: Greek, easy death, from euthanatos, from eu- + thanatos death
: the act or practice of killing or permitting the death of hopelessly sick or injured individuals (as persons or domestic animals) in a relatively painless way for reasons of mercy
- eu-tha-na-sic /-zik, -sik/ adjective."