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Get real. Being shot in the head is NOT as compassionate as some are claiming here. The poor animal is with someone it loves and trust and bam, violent assault. You DON'T know what it's final thoughts and feelings are after that. If you must kill a pet, for Pete's sake take the pet to the vet to die peacefully. Vets these days allow pet owners to comfort their animal during. If you have one that won't let you be with to comfort and want to, find one that will. But don't do violent damage to the pet's head with ballistics and call that mercy. Unbelievable.
Get real. Being shot in the head is NOT as compassionate as some are claiming here. The poor animal is with someone it loves and trust and bam, violent assault. You DON'T know what it's final thoughts and feelings are after that.
You also don't know what the animal's final thoughts and feelings are while its in the process of succumbing to a lethal overdose of drugs. Note that in this scenario (unlike the shooting) the brain is fully intact and definitely functioning.
By your logic, the killing of any animal by any methodology is inhumane.
I would not recommend guns as a method of euthanasia except as an emergency or extreme case. To many mistakes can happen - for one thing, except for movies, bullets are not an effective method of killing instantly, at least with one shot. Even a bullet to the brain my miss and hit a non-vital part that may leave the poor animal alive and suffering even greater pain. One may need more than one shot, or may end up burying an animal alive that otherwise appears dead but is continuing to suffer. In the extreme, a bullet may richochet and hurt the person firing or someone else, or over penetrate (which is the main reason it's illegal to fire weapons in an urban area).
This is the 21st century, we don't shoot animals to end there suffering anymore (except for emergencies). Go to the vet and get it done the right way.
That's why the "humane killer" pistol I mentioned uses a retractable bolt, not regular bullets.
You also don't know what the animal's final thoughts and feelings are while its in the process of succumbing to a lethal overdose of drugs. Note that in this scenario (unlike the shooting) the brain is fully intact and definitely functioning.
By your logic, the killing of any animal by any methodology is inhumane.
Well, as someone who took our family dog to the vet to be put down, I can tell you that it is almost instantaneous. From the time the needle was inserted to the dog's death, it was less than two seconds. Not much time to think of anything.
Well, as someone who took our family dog to the vet to be put down, I can tell you that it is almost instantaneous. From the time the needle was inserted to the dog's death, it was less than two seconds. Not much time to think of anything.
I have no idea about the poster whose greyhound 'took 15 minutes to die from poison'. That makes zero sense. You are quite right about euthanizing pets. The drug cocktail is typically paralytic - the animal loses consciousness (sedation) before the needle is even withdrawn, and death (typically cardiac arrest - which is not the chest-clutching heart attack that will come to the mind of some, but simply a cessation of the heartbeat in the unconscious animal).
But I do know this:
I'll trust the medical professional with four years of veterinary training to do the job right before I'll trust some random chucklehead who bought a gun at Walmart yesterday in order to save a few bucks putting Sparky down.
As I've noted before, I am not opposed to the use of a firearm to end an animal's suffering in certain circumstances. But as also noted, I am dubious of the ability of the average person to do it properly.
Well, as someone who took our family dog to the vet to be put down, I can tell you that it is almost instantaneous. From the time the needle was inserted to the dog's death, it was less than two seconds. Not much time to think of anything.
When it goes right. Euthanasia by drugs sometimes doesn't go right, and it isn't always instantaneous.
In other words, it's just like euthanasia by gunshot. Done properly, any suffering in either case is minimal. Done improperly, and the animal can indeed suffer with either method.
I would not recommend guns as a method of euthanasia except as an emergency or extreme case. To many mistakes can happen - for one thing, except for movies, bullets are not an effective method of killing instantly, at least with one shot. Even a bullet to the brain my miss and hit a non-vital part that may leave the poor animal alive and suffering even greater pain. One may need more than one shot, or may end up burying an animal alive that otherwise appears dead but is continuing to suffer.
In the extreme, a bullet may richochet and hurt the person firing or someone else, or over penetrate (which is the main reason it's illegal to fire weapons in an urban area).
This is the 21st century, we don't shoot animals to end there suffering anymore (except for emergencies). Go to the vet and get it done the right way.
A fatal dose of Pentobarbitol is a preferable method ...when practical. In a lifetime of having animals I've been able to use a vet to put an animal down three times. Two horses and one dog. The others of which there were 5, I had to do myself. One horse one dog and three cats. It was 20 miles one way to get to a vet, and trying to move any of these animals was either not going to happen or would have just caused more pain getting them in the truck and hoping the vet could get right to us once we got there. Waiting all the while the animal is yowling in pain.
Having to do this is the most heartbreaking thing I've ever had to do. And when you have a child who just doesn't understand why their beloved friend had to go away (I've been that child myself) feeling about as tall as whale**** is the order of the day. I can't speak for everyone, but for me these are images that NEVER fade away. I'll carry them till my own turn comes. Our situation was not an urban one. The place was very rural, and we did a LOT of our own vet work of all types. Stitching, removing various impalements, setting injures limbs even. The local vet would give us various things that the average animal owner wouldn't have.
Injectable drugs, local anathestics and such. I can give an IV injection as well as any vet. Had a lot of practice since I was very young. But the drugs used for euthanasia were not something the vet could slip us on the side to have on hand. Mores the pity, I wish that could have been. It's far a better thing to see your animal just go to sleep after a couple deep breaths. Euthanasia drugs are extremely potent opiates. They stop the heart and respiratory systems and the animal is completely unconscious instantly upon administration. They literally just go to sleep. But again unfortunately, we do have to shoot injured ,suffering animals still. "Emergency" is a relative term. Such is a fact of life for rural people, especially people who have animals that are not pets, like livestock and working dogs. Stock dogs are not pets and horses and cattle are not either. Bad things can happen working stock.
If you get through a day of gathering and don't have to put several animals in the chute for treatment of various slices, dices and such that require stitching and shots of antibiotics that's a rare day. Stock dogs get kicked, stomped and otherwise broken pretty regular as well. You have to be your own vet more often than not. It's not glamorous or fun but it is what it is. If you have to shoot an animal I will agree it is necessary to know precisely where to place the shot. It's hardly just an anywhere on the head will do thing. The average urban dweller probably doesn't have that knowledge of animal anatomy and physiology. But someone in a city is probably not going to be in the positions ranch people find themselves.
What is really sad, is that this fractious discussion is taking place in the United States of America... you know the one, the most wealthy, most powerful (militarily), most technologically sophisticated nation on earth. In aggregate. Individually we are all over the place and, sadly (most sadly), the component that is... <cough> unsophisticated and backward, is distressingly high. Just in case the preceding is too subtle, I'll be more direct: civilized people do not carry their beloved pets to the beach and dispatch them themselves with firearms! Me and mine are far from well off but we found the money somehow to pay a vet to humanely euthanize Winston. The last thing he felt were the loving arms of my wife, she held him to the end. Past the end actually. I can only hope to be that lucky...
I saw this story also. From what I can tell, the only thing he did wrong was to bury the dog at a public beach in a shallow grave.
A single shot was probably instantaneous death. There are a lot of unnecessary costs associated with a vet euthanasia. I know when I had to have my cat put down ten years ago, I got charged an exam fee of $50 on top of other costs although I had expressly gone to the vet to have her euthanized. The dog didn't know what a gun was and it didn't matter. The death was an act of compassion from a loving owner.
Well said.
It takes balls to do, but compassion in this case is the best answer, and obviously it's gut wrenching when it's your own pet, which is like a family member, but when it comes to pet and people alike - if you care for them, don't let them suffer!
And yea, it sucks that this has to be a story because of the "legality" of the burial. One of those times when they "law" enforcement shoulda left the letter, and "spirit" of the law alone and saw beyond that all and left this poor person alone.
I saw this story also. From what I can tell, the only thing he did wrong was to bury the dog at a public beach in a shallow grave.
A single shot was probably instantaneous death. There are a lot of unnecessary costs associated with a vet euthanasia. I know when I had to have my cat put down ten years ago, I got charged an exam fee of $50 on top of other costs although I had expressly gone to the vet to have her euthanized. The dog didn't know what a gun was and it didn't matter. The death was an act of compassion from a loving owner.
There is very little difference in the speed of death, it's almost instantaneous in either case. Although you might argue that being outdoors in the open air is a more pleasant final setting for the animal than in a cold and frightening vet's office.
To me the biggest problem with this is the implications for the dog owner. The pet owner will have to live with the final moment of death in a much more emotionally charged way than if a vet put it down. Sending a fatal round into a beloved pet is not something that any of us would ever want to do, and I bet he never forgets it.
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