State failed to enforce gas chamber law

The Georgia Department of Agriculture has been found in contempt of court for failing to enforce a law banning using gas chambers at animal shelters. The 1990 Georgia Humane Euthanasia Act calls for lethal injection to be used in the vast majority of cases when euthanizing dogs and cats. The law allows counties that were using carbon monoxide gas in 1990 to continue using their gas chambers, but not to replace them. Cobb County’s animal shelter installed a gas chamber in 1995. State inspectors admit they knew about the chamber when they checked the facility earlier this year.