By Amelia Arvesen
KU Statehouse Wire Service

TOPEKA — Kansas animal welfare administrators might have won a four-year push to prohibit gas chambers, a less humane way to euthanize cats and dogs, if newly written rules are enforced by the Department of Agriculture by the end of the year.

Justin Brokar, director of development at Topeka’s Helping Hands Humane Society, was baffled when several House and Senate bills that would have banned gas chambers failed to make it to a vote earlier this year. However, if the ban is written into the Department of Agriculture’s animal health commission rules and regulation for animal shelters and breeders, Brokar will consider it a victory.

“I’m sure there was a time when it was perfectly fine and everybody accepted it but there’s been a lot of advancements towards more humane methods,” Brokar said.

At least three known facilities in Chanute, Norton and Humboldt administer carbon monoxide, said Midge Grinstead, Kansas state director of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). Most shelters such as Helping Hands use injections to administer euthanasia to animals with behavioral issues or incurable conditions.

For very few facilities, gas chambers are the only option because of rural locations and lack of veterinarians, Brokar said. Others in the industry say the continued use has to do with budget, but a 2009 study conducted by the American Human Association found that euthanasia by injections was about $1 less expensive per animal than gas.

Brokar said the gas practice is anything but peaceful. The cats or dogs are crammed into a metal box, sometimes more than one animal at a time, and a shelter employee flips a switch to turn on the carbon monoxide. Inside, the animals begin to suffocate. They gasp for air and struggle for life.

Nationwide, 23 states have written regulations banning gas chambers, according to Animal Aid USA. The HSUS is working to make it all 50 states, and Grinstead said hundreds of people in Kansas have advocated for the ban.

Although the American Veterinary Medical Association has declared euthanasia by injection the most humane method available, it doesn’t prohibit the use of gas chambers. Brokar said injections allow the animals to die in the arms of a shelter staff member.

“You have that last moment where you’re petting the animal and telling it that it’s loved one last time,” Brokar said.

Brokar and other members of the Pet Animal Coalition of Kansas, or PACK, were surprised when legislation against gas chambers didn’t pass more swiftly. The bills were heard in the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. Rep. Sue Boldra (R-Hays) said nobody on the committee was opposed to banning an inhumane method.

She said once they realized the legislation wouldn’t reach the House floor, committee leadership sent a request for consideration to William Brown, animal health commissioner with the Department of Agriculture, to consider revising the outdated language of the standards for animal shelters and breeders.

“If we have oversight in other divisions and other state offices, we don’t need more laws,” Boldra said.

Grinstead and Brokar agree a law would be more concrete whereas regulations are subject to change.

However, with the advising of the Pet Animal Advisory Board, Brown said he has been working to clarify and consolidate requirements. He said amendments to the rules and regulations must go through several levels of approval but he expects the updated version to be published and enforced by the end of the year.

The extended process is part of making the rules as simple and clear as possible for shelters and breeders to follow, Brown said.

Prohibiting gas chambers is just one of PACK’s efforts to update the Pet Animal Act which hasn’t been changed in 25 years. It sets standards for animal shelters and breeders and PACK members want to see more stringent regulations enforced such as requiring regular inspections of facilities and granting the department access to animal medical records.

Brokar said all changes are part of an effort toward accountability within the industry and the welfare of animals in Kansas.

Amelia Arvesen is a University of Kansas senior from San Ramon, Calif., majoring in journalism.