The Georgia Department of Agriculture has been found in contempt of a
court order for failing to enforce a 1990 law against using gas chambers
to euthanize stray dogs and cats at animal shelters. The state
issued a favorable inspection report for Cobb County's animal
shelter, even though the facility was utilizing a carbon monoxide
chamber at the time of the inspection.
Two months prior, the court had ordered the state to begin enforcing
the Georgia Humane Euthanasia Act, passed in 1990, which calls for
lethal injection to be used in the majority of cases when dogs and
cats need to be euthanized.
The law allows counties that were using carbon monoxide gas in 1990
to continue using their gas chambers, but not to replace them. But the
Cobb County shelter's gas chamber was installed in 1995, which court
docs show state inspectors knew when they checked the facility earlier
this year.
The case was filed after PETA received complaints from Georgia
residents about the gassing of animals in shelters.
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