Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Cat Gassed Twice, Does Not Die, Shelter Volunteers Want Lethal Injection

A cat at the West Valley City animal shelter survived cabon monoxide gassing twice. 

Let us rewind a bit.

This healthy, adoptable pet was put on the kill list because she had not been adopted in 30 days. There was nothing medically wrong with her. She was not aggressive. By all accounts, she was a perfectly healthy, adoptable pet waiting for a new home. Ergo, there was no valid or logical reason to have sent her to the gas chamber.

She was gassed once. She survived. She was gassed twice. She appeared dead and was placed in a cooler. At a later point in time, someone found her in a bag, in the cooler, vomiting on herself. Alive.

Staff decided this cat really wanted to live. This is always the response shelter staff make when an animal does not adhere to the one-gas-chamber-fits-all rule and does not die. I hate this response. It is demeaning, cruel and callous. It disregards the strong will of any animal to live. No animal wants to die. All healthy animals avoid pain, fear, suffering, and all have a biological and behavioral drive to be in existence. You do not need to be a philosopher to get that.

Everyone in this article diminishes the intrinsic value of the amazing, wonderful dogs and cats who did not survive the gas chamber.

Every single animal who has and is being put into the gas chamber at this shelter wants to live. That is not unique.

But instead of rallying to the aid of all the shelter pets, folks just want to see the animals killed differently.

There is literally no outcry that a healthy, adoptable companion animal was shoved into a gas chamber and "killed". There is no outrage that many adoptable animals are killed at this shelter.

Instead, it's all about lethal injection.

Consider me underwhelmed.

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