Evanston, Wyoming, Mayor Kent Williams on Thursday confirmed to Cowboy State Daily the city plans to discontinue the use of its animal euthanasia gas chamber.
Evanston was the only known city in the United States to still maintain the use of the controversial animal euthanasia method following a unanimous Tuesday decision by the Green River City Council to ban the use of its chamber. That decision followed months of national outrage from animal rights activists who argued the method was inhumane and cruel.
Williams said in a phone conversation he feels the timing is right given the national outcry surrounding the issue. He also said the local police department led the decision.
“In my mind this is an administrative decision for our police department, they’re the one that manage this issue,” Williams said of the decision. “I trust their judgement and the course that they have chosen to take and I think it’s the prudent one and I support it.”
“I don’t think there needs to be a big deal made of it, this is the decision of the police department and I support their decision,” he added. “We wanted to make sure the rest of the country was on board before we made the decision.”
Evanston Chief of Police Michael Vranish said a ban on using the chamber will take effect within a week. Following city council approval, the chamber will then be destroyed.
“Like I said, this is an expensive piece of property and I can’t just go cut the thing up myself, we’re going to probably get a resolution from city council,” Vranish said. “I’ll need to get permission from our legislative body to go ahead and destroy the machine and we’ll dispose of it that way.”
“I don’t want to throw it away and have someone else grab it, I don’t want to put it in surplus and have someone else buy it, we’re just going to go ahead and dispose of it,” he added.
Uphill Battle
Vranish said he viewed the gas chambers as a safer alternative than lethal injection, which he said can have cascading effects on wildlife that happen to eat an animal killed by injection from the landfill. He said he also doubts whether Evanston was the only city in the country to still use a gas chamber.
“I’m not sure where they’re getting their information from, but I believe there’s some other agencies out there still using this,” he said via phone conversation. “The reality of this is—I don’t know why this isn’t being discussed—the American Veterinary Association has said that carbon monoxide is the most humane [method].”
His comments likely referred to the American Veterinary Medical Association, which wrote in a 2020 guideline document that it is acceptable to use carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide to euthanize animals, so long as doing so does not cause harm or distress to the animal and the flow of gas is regulated.
Other animal activism groups have disputed this claim.
“I think that the gas chamber, from the research I’ve done, is actually way more humane and that’s why we’ve stuck with it,” Vranish said.
He added that the city’s gas chamber is getting old and would likely be more trouble to repair or replace than it is worth.
“From a pure administrative standpoint the question really becomes ‘is the battle really worth it?’” he said. “I could just issue an order that the gas chamber no longer be used. As far as disposing of the chamber, I’d have to have city council permission because it’s obviously city property.”
Vranish acknowledged he was aware that members of the Green River City Council had received death threats over their use of the gas chamber. He said he hopes this pressure will not be turned on his city.
“We need to debate things and not rise to that level,” he said. “Evanston has not experienced anything like that yet.”
Above all, Vranish said the city tries to identify all other available options before deciding to euthanize an animal.
“We go to great lengths not to euthanize animals,” he said. “We’ve had animals in our shelter for up to a year before because we knew they were adoptable.”
City Council
City Councilman Evan Perkes told Cowboy State Daily he supported abolishing the use of the gas chamber as long as it is done in a safe way.
“I'm all for it, you know, getting rid of the gas chamber, but I want to make sure that they're safe,” he said. “We do our best at the city to adopt all pets out, but some are not adoptable, if you can only imagine the worst case scenarios, so we got to have a way to be able to euthanize those humanely, and if they can, I don't care whether it's hiring a vet to give them a shot, just so that people are safe. That's my biggest concern.”
Perkes said that despite hardly using the gas chamber, the council never got around to ordering its discontinuation, due to other more pressing matters. The national outcry around the issue, however, proves the timing is right to make such a move, he said.
“I've got two cats and four dogs, and some of them were rescue animals,” he said. “So, you know, I do love the animals.”
While Perkes said he and the council have not received any direct messages or letters from concerned community members about the chamber, he said Facebook conversations surrounding the issue often become fiery.
Advocates Celebrate
Britney Tennant, who founded the Black Dog Animal Rescue and also serves as Cheyenne Animal Shelter director, became emotional when learning of the news via phone. She was involved in the movement to push for the end of gas chamber use in Wyoming.
“It feels like such a huge win and such a long time coming,” she said. “It feels like a tremendous weight lifted, just one battle we don’t have to fight any more.”
The issue, she said, was made even more special due to it taking place in her home state.
“We have the ability to do better for animals and we should,” she said. “It’s definitely a moment we’re going to be celebrating in our team and amongst our statewide network of advocates. It’s a good day.”
Madhu Anderson, who leads Wyoming Against Gas Chambers, said she had already begun planning a movement to begin reaching out to Williams and other Evanston leaders to demand the gas chamber be retired. She also became emotional when learning the news.
“I am so thrilled, I cannot find words for it,” she said. “I can’t even find words right now, I’m shivering, I’m so happy.”
Anderson said the moment felt like the culmination of years of struggle.
“I have tears in my eyes, this is what we fought for, for so many years,” she said. “This is unbelievable, this is the best moment.”
“This takes a lot of weight off my heart and my soul,” she added.
Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.
