The Green River City Council voted to abolish the use of a gas chamber for animal euthanasia, leaving just one known location in the United States to continue using the controversial practice.
The vote in Green River Tuesday night was hailed by animal rights advocates, who have long felt using a gas chamber was inhumane due to the distress it causes animals in the moments before their death. In a 7-0 vote, the council unanimously passed the ban with no discussion and no public comment.
Council members said there was no hesitation in their decision, especially given the wishes of the community. Councilwoman Jessica Maser called the decision a “positive thing for our community.”
“It was made clear to us that it was the correct decision,” she said. “I think we’re all happy with the outcome.”
The vote was celebrated by animal advocates statewide.
"I just think it's a major victory for animals and animal shelters in our state,” Britney Tennant, who founded the Black Dog Animal Rescue and also serves as Cheyenne Animal Shelter director, told Cowboy State Daily.
“When you have things like that still in shelters in the state, it's kind of a stain for everybody. It's a stain on our profession. It's a stain on the work of animal shelters and the role that we serve in communities. So I think it's a really great step forward."
Green River’s gas chamber was one of two known to still be in use anywhere in the United States.
The other shelter is located in Evanston, Wyoming, which has also been under heavy scrutiny from animal activists.
Fierce Pushback
Green River City Councilman Ron Williams said the decision to ban the chamber was an easy one given the fierce pushback he said members of the council received from community members.
Williams said he conducted his own research into the issue and was alarmed to find Green River was one of two remaining places where gas chambers are still known to be in use.
“It's like seriously, we're that backwards around here?” he said in a phone conversation with Cowboy State Daily. “I was happy to see us go that way.”
Williams said he and other members of the council received a high volume of phone calls, emails and text messages from concerned community members regarding the gas chamber, none of which were in favor of its continued use.
“I got a few really, really radical emails over the last six months,” he said. “I mean, they called us Nazis. They called us genocide, they were calling us all kinds of names, different organizations. It was pretty ugly, and they had a nickname for our mayor, called him Gas Chamber Pete.”
While Williams said he was always in favor of banning the chamber, he said situations in which he receives such charged messages are often indicators for him to side with his constituents regardless of his own feelings.
“Like I told a little the girl there from Laramie, I said ‘I'm in no means a tree hugger,’” he said. “I hunt, I fish, I do all that good stuff, but I make sure I do it the proper way. And also, I love animals. I mean, seriously, I got six squirrels in my backyard I'm feeding right now. People make fun of me for it but no big deal. And I love dogs. I've had dogs my entire life.”
Green River Mayor Pete Rust said many of these concerns came from places outside of the city. He said advocacy groups from across the country had sent him letters rallying against the use of the chamber and that he now expects this pressure will be concentrated on Evanston.
“Just a whole number of 100 and a time, 1,000 at a time, different numbers of letters and emails and things of that nature from people that are prompted by animal rights organizations,” he said. “We’re working in a highly politicized environment right now.”
Rust added that while using the chamber was an accepted method of euthanasia according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, he and the council members felt a change was needed.
“I think the council felt that with all the criticism we’re getting and theoretically being one of only two shelters left in the United States—I’m not sure if I believe that but I don’t have any information that would contradict that—when you’re getting criticism as a community and as individuals and you are definitely in the minority, the council just felt it was time to act,” he said.
Maser told Cowboy State Daily she also received a lot of emails and messages calling for an end to the practice.
“There was a lot of support for discontinuing its use,” she said. “I know we all received lots of content, especially yesterday leading up to this vote, that were in full support of us disbanding its use.”
Animal Advocacy
Madhu Anderson is the lead organizer behind Wyoming Against Gas Chambers, an advocacy group dedicating to removing the gas chambers in Green River and Evanston.
Anderson told Cowboy State Daily she regularly requests photos of the animals killed using gas and shares them with her over 1,100 Facebook followers. She also led several peaceful protests against the chamber and petitioned city officials for its removal.
She told Cowboy State Daily the council’s decision represents a major step toward the humane treatment of animals in Wyoming, describing it as “a very big victory.” Anderson said she is now waiting for confirmation from city officials about when the ban will go into effect and how soon the chamber will be taken out of service.
“During the city council meeting, they did not announce that when the gas chamber will be actually removed, like dismantled and decommissioned,” she said. “So I am waiting for that clarification from the city that when they go to physically remove the gas chamber, because that will be the really big victory day. We don't want that torture machine in that building in our community.”
With the ban in place in Green River, Anderson said she is now turning her advocacy efforts toward the mayor and city council members of Evanston. Many residents there, she said, are also in favor of removing the gas chamber.
“I have personally spoken to people in the grocery stores in Green River and even Rock Springs and everywhere,” she said. “And I asked them if your dog gets sick or injured, and you have to say goodbye to them, you have to make the decision, would you take them to the Green River animal control to put them in the gas chamber? And every single one of the people said ‘no, absolutely not, because it's an inhumane way of euthanizing an animal.’”
Tennant told Cowboy State Daily she believes the move send a clear message to the leaders of Evanston that gas chambers are not popular.
“My hope is that you know there those officials are, the people working in that shelter will see the writing on the wall and and use this as a time to make the right decision when it comes to decommissioning that chamber as well,” she said. “There's grant funds available out there to help do it."
The Cheyenne Animal Shelter offers no-cost training for shelters to educate animal workers on how to conduct euthanasia in a humane way for pets of all kinds. She argued that with these resources available, there is no excuse to continue using gas chambers.
“There's really no reason that that people can't be trained to do it in a more humane way,” she said. “Animals deserve to be treated with with kindness and care in their final moments, and locking them in a metal box by themselves to thrash about in terror for several minutes isn't the best option we have to us."
Last One Standing
Wyoming in 2024 became the only place in the country where gas chambers are used for animal euthanasia. There had previously been one shelter in Poplar Bluff, Missouri still using gas chambers.
Green River Animal Control Supervisor Tracy Wyant told Cowboy State Daily at the time the gas chamber is often easier on employees who are emotionally impacted by putting animals down.
“I prefer it (the gas chamber) because it’s less personal,” Wyant said. “With injections it’s personal, and you’re there and you have the animal in your arms. My staff has cried. My staff has compassion fatigue.”
Cowboy State Daily did not receive a response from representatives of Evanston Animal Control and the Evanston Police Department about their thoughts on the future of the city’s gas chamber.
Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.
