Senate committee votes to ban gassing shelter animals

The Senate Health and Human Services Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to ban the use of carbon monoxide gas to euthanize shelter animals.

Senate Bill 360 by Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, will go to the full Senate for consideration. Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-Harlingen, is carrying a similar bill in the House.

Watson said killing animals in the gas chamber is “cruel, expensive and unsafe.”

Death by injection is easier for the animals and for shelter staff that must carry out the procedure, and it’s cheaper, said Watson and experts in shelter management and animal care who testified.

Twenty-nine shelter in Texas currently use carbon monoxide gas to kill shelter animals, according to testimony.

Texas would become the 21st state to ban the practice if the bill becomes law, Watson said.

Courtesy of MySA.com.