GREEN RIVER – Wyoming residents spoke to the Green River City Council last week about stopping the use of the gas chamber for companion pets at Green River Animal Control. This follows recent protests against the gas chamber by the group Wyoming Against Gas Chambers. 

Linda Burt, an attorney from Cheyenne and a member of the Humane Society of the United States, said that the Green River Animal Shelter is one of three remaining shelters in the United States that still use a gas chamber for companion pets. Evanston is the only other shelter in Wyoming that uses one, and there is one in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. She emphasized that this issue is about companion pets, and not wild animals. 

“There are approximately 4,000 animal shelters in the United States. Of those shelters, the last three gas chambers are two in Wyoming and one in Missouri. There are 23 states that have outlawed and totally banned the use of gas chambers, there are five that have partial bans,” Burt said.

Burt said that while gas as a method of euthanasia can be considered humane according to the American Veterinarian Medical Association, there are several requirements that must be in place. She added that the gas chamber used in Green River is nearly 40 years old, which could bring along maintenance issues. However, Green River Animal Control Supervisor Tracy Wyant maintains that they do follow the AVMA guidelines for carbon monoxide euthanasia.

“We strictly follow AVMA guidelines for euthanasia,” Wyant told SweetwaterNOW in a recent interview.

The HSUS has previously offered $3,000 in grant funding for Green River to utilize to train animal control staff to administer lethal injections, and to help cover the cost and labor to remove the gas chamber. Burt said that money is still being offered, and they would also possibly help pay for renovations to the animal control building to provide the infrastructure needed to make a complete move to euthanasia via injection. The city of Green River has not taken the money in the past and the council did not give any indication of whether they would be interested in it at this time. 

Animal activist Madhu Anderson, of Wyoming Against Gas Chambers, also urged the council to stop the use of the gas chamber, noting that they said two years ago that they would begin the process of moving away from gas euthanasia methods. She said it’s been two years and the chamber is still being used. Burt said she got data from Mayor Pete Rust that showed that while Green River Animal Control is a no-kill shelter, meaning that less than 10% of the animals that go through the shelter are put down, 52.9% of the animals that were killed were euthanized via carbon monoxide gas. 

Green River resident Jason Grubb said that he first became aware of this issue two years ago when he saw in the news that the gas chamber was still being used but that the city would make moves toward eliminating it as a method of euthanasia. While he acknowledged that things get busy in governments and other agencies, he believes the city should finish what they said they were going to do. He said that he doesn’t want Green River to go down as the last city in the United States that uses a gas chamber. 

“I was actually pretty surprised because I remember reading in the newspaper and on SweetwaterNOW, that there had been some decisions made to eliminate the gas chamber, and honestly I was a little embarrassed when I realized there’s only three cities in the United States. That honestly feels like a list we don’t want to be on… I don’t think Green River wants to go down in history as the last city in the United States to eliminate the gas chamber.”

Grubb also noted that while the elimination of the gas chamber feels important to him, he said it’s also important for governments to follow up on their word and do what they say they’re going to do.

“No fault here, not pointing fingers or blaming… just saying, it’s a project we started and life gets busy but maybe it’s something we need to take up and finish just because, it’s Green River. This is who we are and we want to do right by this,” Grubb said.

Representatives on animal control’s side were present at the meeting, but none spoke during the comment period to defend the gas chamber. However, Wyant said recently in an interview with SweetwaterNOW that the gas chamber is only used for fractious, or aggressive, animals. 

“There are a few occasions where the preferred method is the chamber due to the situation with that individual animal. Generally, this is because the animal is too dangerous to use the injection method on, and the only safe option for the animal and the staff is to use the chamber,” Wyant said.

The Green River City Council did not make any comments in response to the presenters against the gas chamber.