Utah Animal Rights Coalition (UARC) has started an email/phone campaign protesting the use by North Utah Valley Animal Shelter (NUVAS) in Lindon, Utah of a gas chamber to euthanize unwanted, abandoned, and stray animals. UARC has set up a website so that it is easy to send a form email to City Council members in Eagle Mountain, its sister city Saratoga Springs, unincorporated Utah County, as well as 9 other City Councils and Mayors. They have posted the following prior to collecting your personal information and then sending a form letter to the City Council. (Note: I have left the spelling errors as they appear on the site.)
“Eagle Mountain contracts with North Utah Valley Animal Shelter (NUVAS) to provide animal control and sheltering services. NUVAS is one of only four animal shelters in the entire country that is still killing dogs and cats in a carbon monoxide gas chamber, an outdated and cruel method of euthanasia. Dogs and cats placed in a gas chamber can take as long as thirty minutes to die, as they suffer through the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning before finally losing consciousness and dying. One animal shelter director in Missouri described watching a dog die in their shelter’s gas chamber, stating that “the dog was just scrambling in there and gasping for air. Then it finally collapsed and was knocked unconscious, but it didn’t die for about 10 minutes.”
Nearly every major animal sheltering and animal advocacy organization condemns the use of gas chambers to kill dogs and cats in shelters, including the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the National Animal Control Association (NACA), Best Friends Animal Society, Humane Society of Utah, and the American Humane Association.
More than 1,000 dogs and cats have been killed in the gas chamber at NUVAS since 2019. One of these animals, a Toy Aussie dog with a skin infection that arrived on March 9, 2021, was killed in the gas chamber 9 days later because he failed the NUVAS “temperment test” in his terrified isolation. Eagle Mountain residents and animals deserve better.
Please use the form below to send a message to Mayor Tom Westmoreland and the City Council of Eagle Mountain to urge them to end the cruel killing of dogs and cats in gas chambers immediately.”
UARC is an organization that has five commitments in their charter. 1- Veganism, 2- Collaboration, 3- Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, 4- Truth & Transparency, and 5- Non-Violence. They are “a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting veganism and ending cruelty to animals. UARC is working towards a more humane and just world for animals through programs of coalition-building & community service programs, public education & advocacy efforts, and campaigns & legal reform.”
UARC Contact Information
Twitter: @uarc
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/utahanimalrights
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/utahanimalrights
The UARC has not been the only organization or individual that has set its crosshairs on the NUVAS facility and its euthanasia practice of using a gas chamber. Over the years there have been a number of change.org action pages created. The movement has grown over the last few years. Back in 2016 a change.org petition started by Pamela LaFlamme was stated, it is currently a closed petition, but it did receive 3,913 supporters. There is a current petition on change.org “End North UT Valley Animal Shelter Murdering Animals In Gas Chambers” that was started by Erica Olsen that now has 108,529 people who have signed it.
Here is a copy of the form email that is being sent to Councilmembers of the cities targeted by the UARC organization.
Dear Councilmember ____________,
I was dismayed to learn from Utah Animal Rights Coalition (UARC) that the city of Eagle Mountain contracts with North Utah Valley Animal Shelter (NUVAS), a facility that still kills hundreds of dogs and cats each year in cruel carbon monoxide chambers. Dogs and cats killed in these chambers can take as long as 30 minutes to die, during which time they often gasp for air and frantically try to escape. Sometimes, the gas chamber is ineffective and bringing about death, and animals must be gassed repeatedly. This is why virtually every organization of veterinarians, animal control professionals, and animal advocates condemns the use of gas chambers in to kill animals in shelters.
There is a more humane method of euthanasia, which is in use already at every veterinary clinic in Utah – euthanasia by injection. Studies have repeatedly shown that this method of euthanasia is quicker, more humane, and more cost effective than outdated and cruel gas chambers. NUVAS is one of only four shelters in the United States still killing animals in gas chambers, a method of killing that is prohibited by law in 27 states.
It’s time for the city of Eagle Mountain to take action and amend its contract with NUVAS to stop this cruel killing. I urge you to add a requirement in the municipal agreement with NUVAS that prohibits the shelter from killing any animals originating from Eagle Mountain in cruel gas chambers. Thank you.
Sincerely,
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