So, I finally had a meeting with the county commission regarding the animal shelter’s use of the gas chamber. My friends Sonya and Trudy accompanied me as did several rescue groups. I believe I presented my case with the best evidence possible and plenty of documentation, although that has not stopped some rude comments being made by various people who seem to think that this is personal in some way, shape, or form. Travis is very encouraging and this is taking a lot of courage on my part, something I don’t usually feel that I have a lot of. The sad truth is that euthanasia right now is simply a reality for animals in the shelter of our community, although I do believe in the concept of a no-kill shelter, and there are no-kill shelters who never turn away animals, but that’s something to strive and pray for. However, if we have to euthanize animals shouldn’t be by injection instead of gas? Injection is considered to be the most appropriate and safest way for these animals to die. And our county is one of only four in the state still using the gassing method. The county cites cost, of course. So, I’m now researching how so many other counties in the state make it affordable. I just want to help and make some positive changes for the animals. The thought of them dying is heartbreaking enough as it is. I can’t imagine them dying in a box from suffocation when they did nothing to deserve to be there in the first place. It would seem to me the least we can do is give them a peaceful death.
In other news…well, I think I’ll post happier news tomorrow and let this post stand on its own.
You’re an Esme!
You are thoughtful and care very deeply for your family. A loving home is of great
importance to you and you always try to make people feel welcome. Although you have a great capacity to love, you also have a great capacity to hurt, so at times you can be
sensitive. You’re firm when you need to be, but people trust your judgment and
appreciate the kind way you always handle things.
Yes, I’m one of the million + fans of the series. Yes, I went to see the movie last night. Yes, I’m an Edward fan. Yes, I very much enjoyed the movie. I think this one was by far the best of the movies thus far, although I still really enjoyed parts of the first one and second one a lot as well. Not so much a fan of the cast of the movie, but they make it work well as an ensemble. My two favorite actors of the series are not in the flicks nearly enough – Bryce Dallas Howard and Peter Facinelli (Victoria and Carlisle). The nice thing was the dynamic between the main 3 characters though – Edward, Bella, and Jacob. The next movies, Breaking Dawn Parts 1 and 2 should be very good though. Yes, I will probably go see those as well.
In other news…Travis has decided to coach Anya’s soccer team this fall. This should be interesting…he normally does not volunteer himself, but he really loves soccer and of course, he loves Anya so I guess he’s whipped! 
Arwen has been quite the little booger lately…which Anya loves to mention to people as well, and this is especially funny when we are in public and Anya proceeds to say very loudly…”that little boogerbutt!” Of course, she’s referring to Arwen. It seems that Arwen will probably have no idea what her name is…the mirage of names we call her other than Arwen include the one mentioned above, Sunshine, Little One, Peanut, Pumpkin, Sticky, and fussybutt…Arwen, Pumpkin, and Sunshine are the main ones we call her though!
And here’s some cuteness to share…flashback time…
One on top is Anya and Chance, and under it is Arwen and Chance…cute isn’t it?
Travis and I went to see “Knight and Day” last night and we really enjoyed it. The title threw us off a bit, but the movie itself is a lot of fun. I don’t understand why people are still giving Tom Cruise a hard time. I like him personally. I’ve heard a lot of people still don’t like him because of the Oprah incident and the Today show incident, and that’s what stays in the media. Of course, the good things he’s done, such as rescuing a lady who was going to get trampled, apologizing to Brooke Shields for his statement about post partum depression, and the fact that he seems to be a doting father are really looked over in the media. Bad news sells, I guess, which is why we don’t watch the local news and we don’t purchase newspapers except for the Sunday one occasionally, but only for the sales ads. Travis and I never read a newspaper cover to cover. Its just something that does not interest us. We get the news off the Internet basically so that we do stay current with what’s going on, but we can pick and choose the things we read easily that way and we don’t have to pay for a daily paper. Back to Tom Cruise, he’s done some odd things I’ll admit, but I’m odd as well. I like things and people that are different. The truth is we only speculate as to what celebrities are really like. So someone like Kristen Stewart might be super popular right now and everyone may seem to like her, but who knows what she’s really like. I mean if she’s dating Robert Pattinson, why not just admit it? Is it some kind of publicity thing so that they will stay current in the media, by keeping people guessing? I personally don’t care who she dates, because aside from her portrayal of Bella in the Twilght movies, I’m not so much a fan of hers. As for who knows what celebrities are really like though, Tom Cruise is the same – who knows what he’s really like. I like him though and I like his movies, so he will always get my support as long as he’s making movies. Of course, I had a huge crush on Maverick when I was little, but that’s besides the point! “Knight and Day” was a very fun, action packed movie and I really enjoyed it. Don’t believe the reviews and go see it!
So, I know I have posted before about the use of a gas chamber to euthanize shelter animals…well, I’m ready to fight this in a big way. Essentially, enough is enough. I found out that out of 45 facilities in Alabama, only 9 still have a gas chamber that they may or may not utilize. The ASBVME even recommends to all shelters that they do injection only, so why do shelters still use the gas chamber? The reason I was given by one director of a shelter was that it would be “too hard” on the shelter employees to have to physically hold an animal why it dies…
Hmmm…
Shouldn’t it be hard? I mean, what did these animals do to deserve to even be in the shelter? Many of them are scared the entire time they are at the shelter and then they are placed inside a box and gassed to die. They don’t know what’s happening, they don’t know what they did wrong, they don’t know why no one has come to give them a home, they don’t know what’s going to happen to them, but they are scared and the very least we can do for these animals is to hold them while they leave this world. Injection euthanasia takes about 15 seconds for the animal to die vs. over 30 minutes at times inside the chamber and there have been numerous accounts where the dog or cat is still alive and sometimes they gas them again!
This is going to stop! And I’m going to fight to get the end of the gas chamber until the gassing of these animals does in fact STOP!