By Kathy Chaffin
kchaffin@salisburypost.com
The word “euthanasia” comes from the Greek terms “eu” meaning good and “thanatos” meaning death.
“It means a good death,” said Michael San Filippo, media relations assistant for the Communications Division of the American Veterinary Medical Association. “That’s not 100 percent possible, so it’s trying to make it as quick and painless and as stress-free as possible.”
While the 2007 American Veterinary Medical Association Guidelines on Euthanasia spell out which methods are allowed for which animals ó including all species ó Filippo said the 36-page report does not go so far as to “rank one over the other.”
“This isn’t policy,” he said. “It’s simply guidelines recognizing the fact that with euthanasia, there are a number of factors that come into play.”
The guidelines, which will be reviewed again in 2017, approve both the carbon monoxide gas chamber and lethal injection of sodium pentobarbital methods for euthanizing cats and dogs.
“Veterinarians can use the recommendations to determine what would be best depending on the facts that are involved in the situation,” he said.
Feral cats that aren’t used to being handled, Filippo said, might be an example of when the carbon monoxide gas chamber method would be preferred to lethal injection “if it was a properly constructed environment where the gas is being evenly distributed at the right level to induce unconsciousness without the animal being aware.”
The N.C. Veterinary Medical Association also approves both methods of euthanasia, according to board chairwoman Dr. Jane Williston, a veterinarian who practices at Armstrong Animal Clinic in Charlotte.
Williston said, however, that the lethal injection is the ideal method.
“The association that most people have with euthanasia by intravenous injection,” Williston said, “is the experience they’ve had in the privacy of their family veterinarian’s office where euthanasia by intravenous injection can be a very peaceful way of ending an animal’s life. But if that animal is scared to death or completely uncooperative when it comes to being restrained for that injection, it is not humane.
“This is where our position statement is very, very clear. We support euthanasia by intravenous injection when it can be safely and humanely performed, safe for the shelter personnel and when it does not impose additional stress on animals which cannot or will not be restrained by humans.”
Williston said it takes highly trained staff to perform euthanasia by lethal injection. “A staff member who is not trained has no business practicing hitting a vein on a scared puppy or kitten …” she said. “It takes time for someone to become very adept at hitting a vein. Dogs and cats don’t have thin skin with blue veins.
“You’ve got hair to go through … You do not have a patient that’s holding nice and still. They wiggle. They squirm. They do not want to be restrained.”
Williston described the debate over the most humane method of euthanasia as “a broad, difficult, painful, tragic subject.”
Also included in the American Veterinary Medical Association Guidelines on Euthanasia are the safety hazards for veterinarians and other staff performing the euthanasia methods.
Filippo said the carbon monoxide gas chamber method can be hazardous to staff if there’s a leak. “It can be toxic at higher levels,” he said.
Though a staff member administering lethal injections could accidentally be pricked with the needle, Filippo said he didn’t see how a full dosage could be accidentally applied.
There is, however, the potential for human abuse of the barbiturates used in the method, he said. The purchase and use of the controlled substances are monitored by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Williston said ketamine hydrochloride, one of the drugs used to sedate animals in order to perform lethal injections, goes under the street name of Special K.
“You can talk to any law enforcement officer about people they’ve arrested under the influence of Special K,” she said, “and you can talk to many veterinarians whose clinics have been broken into.
“We’ve been broken into nine times by people trying to get our drugs, so it’s not without a huge risk.”
Williston said she is concerned by the tactics of some of the animal groups campaigning to ban the carbon monoxide gas chamber method of euthanasia. When a member of the N.C. Veterinary Medical Association testified for the state Agriculture Committee, she said the office received hateful phone calls from group members.
“There were postings on Craigslist that were libelous,” she said, and were later removed.
“Truly, it is intimidating to have such an inappropriate reaction to our position, Williston said. Two of the national groups are actually on a watch list for terrorist activity, she said.
“They’re very passionate,” she said, “but they are irrational, well-intended but misguided, and will stop at nothing in order to achieve their ends.”
About a third of the state’s animal shelters use the carbon monoxide gas chamber method. Some already use lethal injections for cats and dogs that are under the age of 16 weeks of age, pregnant and sick or injured to the point of being near death.
Those that don’t ó including Rowan ó will be required to start in August under new euthanasia rules set by the Veterinary Division of the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs. Animal Control staff across the state must be retrained in both methods.
Filippo said the American Veterinary Medical Association encourages communities to develop spay-neuter programs to address the overpopulation of cats and dogs. “It’s a problem on a lot of levels,” he said, “especially with overpopulation of cats. It’s a disease issue.”
Dogs running loose in the communities are also a public health issue due to the risk for dog bites. “We hope for responsible pet ownership,” he said.
In an ideal world, Williston said there would no need to debate the most humane method of euthanasia for unwanted cats and dogs.
“In an ideal world, we would not have animal overpopulation,” she said, “but we do, and we always will as long as people are not being responsible pet owners and having their pets spayed and neutered.”
Contact Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249.