HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	19
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

URGING THE COUNTIES TO DISCONTINUE THE USE OF CARBON MONOXIDE TO EUTHANIZE ANIMALS.

     WHEREAS, carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless, and tasteless gas used to euthanize animals in gas chambers; and

     WHEREAS, use of carbon monoxide is not a humane method for euthanizing animals; and

     WHEREAS, elderly, young, and sick animals are more susceptible to gas-related trauma because they breathe and circulate oxygen and carbon monoxide differently from healthy adult animals, causing a resistance to oxygen deficiency; and

     WHEREAS, carbon monoxide can take half an hour to kill an animal and causes an animal's vital organs to shut down before the loss of consciousness; and

     WHEREAS, the Humane Society of the United States has condemned the use of carbon monoxide for euthanizing shelter animals; and

WHEREAS, animal shelter workers using carbon monoxide have been injured and asphyxiated due to faulty gas chambers; and

WHEREAS, shelter workers who experience repeated exposure to carbon monoxide, even at low levels, are placed at long-term risks for cancer, infertility, and heart disease; and

     WHEREAS, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Humane Society of the United States, and the American Humane Association have stated that injection is a more humane and the preferred method of euthanasia; and

     WHEREAS, euthanasia by injection causes loss of conscious in five seconds, death within five minutes, and more importantly, causes the animal to lose consciousness before vital organs stop operating; and

     WHEREAS, euthanasia by injection is safer for animal shelter workers to use and is less costly to implement than carbon monoxide; now, therefore,

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, that the counties are urged to require all animal shelters they contract with to cease using carbon monoxide and instead use euthanasia by injection for all animals the shelters must euthanize; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each county is requested to submit a report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2014 on its progress toward stopping the use of carbon monoxide by animal shelters, along with any proposed legislation; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Mayor of each county.

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title: 

Animals; Euthanasia; Shelters; Carbon Monoxide