Senate OKs Bill To Prohibit Type of Animal Euthanasia
The Associated Press
SANTA FE — The state Senate on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill that prohibits animal euthanasia that injects a barbiturate directly into the heart of a conscious dog or cat.
The bill's sponsor, Sen. Richard Romero, D-Albuquerque, said animal shelters have used intracardiac injection euthanasia, but that many times the procedure misses the heart, leaving the animal dazed and suffering.
"It is not a good method," said Romero, who last year sought an attorney general's opinion that intracardiac euthanasia violated anticruelty laws.
Romero said there were more humane ways to kill unwanted pets.
The American Veterinary Medical Association has said the method should not be used unless an animal is heavily sedated, unconscious or anesthetized.
Sen. Joseph Carraro, R-Albuquerque, backed the bill but said the measure did not address the real problem — too many unwanted pets. He suggested the state should be looking at aggressive spaying and neutering.
"It's important that we deal with these issues, that we don't just deal with the symptoms," said Carraro, who said he couldn't go to a pound because "I want to adopt them all."
And, he said, the bill didn't address other ways animals are painfully put to death or their suffering just by being in shelters.
"If it's going to take money to fix it, if it's going to take social consciousness to fix it. . . . This bill doesn't fix the problem," Carraro said.
The animal euthanasia bill is SB51.
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