UPDATE - Good News!! The commercial has been pulled by Verizon but please take a moment and ask them to BE RESPONSIBLE in the future! Sign the Petition!

PETITION

By now I’m sure many of you have seen the tasteless, to put it mildly, Verizon Wireless commercial depicting vicious chained pitbulls as ‘junk yard’ dogs. Public outcry had been loud and too the point, pull the ad!! Verizon doesn’t seem to be listening.

The commercial shows a young man trying to obtain the phone by climbing a junkyard fence, when he is instantly greeted by two pit bulls. The dogs, with cropped ears and metal choke collars, bark ferociously and lunge at the intruder. They are just a hair’s breadth away from the phone because their heavy metal chains do not quite extend far enough.

The spot has infuriated groups from the Humane Society of the U.S. — which has asked Verizon to pull the ad — to PETA, the ASPCA and dozens of pet-related websites, which have posted petitions and message boards on the web protesting the ad with slogans like “Can They Hear Us Now?” (Adage)

They hear but they’re still not listening! Personally I think they are reveling in the controversy!

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Archaic, barbaric, cruel, inhumane; these are just a few words that can be used to describe this outdated method of euthanization and thankfully, only a few states still use it. Euthanasia, which means ‘good death’ is certainly not accomplished in a gas chamber as extreme animal suffering is well documented.

Less than 1% of shelters actually still use this method, in many states it is even banned. In North Carolina where is occurred, 67 counties have already moved to the more humane method of lethal injection but in at least 30 counties and cities, gas chamber euthanization is still used.

Witnesses have seen animals struggling and wailing for up to ten minutes before death in gas chambers, some biting themselves and each other in panic, beating their heads against the chamber walls, choking and vomiting. Groups of up to 25 animals are gassed together. Inhalant gases are not approved for euthanasia of baby animals, for very old, sick or pregnant animals, since they may not inhale enough gas to die. Yet in North Carolina, they are often gassed together. Some will not die the first time.

And now, an explosion at one North Carolina shelter. This happened on Tuesday at Iredell County Animal Services shelter. There were ten dogs inside at the time and although the AMVA say that the gas chamber should be under supervision at all times, no one in the shelter office even heard the explosion. Guess it was a good thing no one was following the rules at that time.

**Received a follow-up note from Tracy Jackson, Asst. County Manager, Iredell County, see comment 12/15, that the chamber was under supervision…

An employee of the Animal Shelter was present when the incident occurred and notified the front office at which time 911 was contacted while the building was evacuated. The office and the euthanasia area are separated by several rooms with block walls so it is not unusual that no one in the office heard the electrical arc which is actually more like a loud popping sound.

Officials say that until it is determined that their gas chamber is safe again, they will use lethal injection. It would have been hoped that especially after this horrific incident that they would have decided to forgo this cruel and inhumane method!!

One of the biggest proponents for gas chamber use in NC is a veterinarian himself, Dr. Ralph Houser, DVM. Houser is also a manufacturer of the chambers from hell and a member of the state’s Board of the North Carolina Animal Rabies Control Association. Although the AMVA advocates lethal injection as the most humane method of euthanasia, it’s no surprise that Houser is against it. He doesn’t want anyone taking money out of pocket! It is believed by many that he is single handedly responsible for the reluctance of the state’s Board of Agriculture to ban use of this cruel, medieval device.

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Come see the world through the “Eyes of the Lost”,
Come feel the pain, come pay the cost.
You see them in alleyways, hiding in doors,
They shiver in winter, they’re soaked when it pours.
Some may have once known a better life.
Then abandoned alone to this world of strife.

Their food’s from the dumpsters, or off of the street,
Their throats grow parched in the summer heat.
In their fear and confusion, they quietly cry.
While still others must watch their little ones die.
Coats filled with fleas, mats and tatters.
They soon find out how little things matter.

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