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State bill wont change Hall shelter practices
County already uses injections to euthanize animals, scans for chips
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Hall County Animal Shelter kennel supervisor Tina Crowe demonstrates how the shelter checks dogs for microchips. A bill passed by the Georgia House requires that animals must be scanned for the microchips before euthanizing them. - photo by Tom Reed

The Hall County Animal Shelter already is taking all the measures that state representatives called for last week to protect animals and their owners.

Two bills passed by the state House of Representatives last week would require shelters to scan for microchips before euthanizing and animal and would prohibit shelters from using gas chambers as a method of animal euthanasia.

Meghan Seabolt, the onsite veterinarian at the county shelter, said the bills, if approved by the state Senate and signed by the governor, won’t change anything in Hall County. The shelter already scans animals “multiple” times for microchips and only uses lethal injection to euthanize animals.

“We’ve never used anything else, and never would,” said Seabolt.

Lethal injection is the most humane and the quickest way to euthanize animals, she said.

The Hall shelter euthanizes animals, depending on their health, their behavior and space constraints in the shelter. Healthy animals that are not aggressive are kept in the adoption facility for at least two weeks before they are euthanized because of lack of space, Seabolt said.

“We have a lot of guys that have been here a couple of months,” she said.

When animals are euthanized, Seabolt said shelter workers try to “do it as humanely as possible.” She said the shelter staff is highly-trained in euthanasia and try to make the process quick and stress free.

The lethal injection method takes about 30 seconds.

Euthanizing pets with carbon monoxide is a method that takes longer, places more stress on animals, Seabolt said. The American Humane Association, which supports lethal injection as the only form of euthanasia, says the carbon monoxide method takes up to 30 minutes.

But Seabolt said the gas chamber method also could harm humans.

“It’s pretty dangerous for the people that are around the gas chambers,” said Seabolt. “There are still some shelters that do it that way. It’s an acceptable method of euthanasia, but the shelters that do it are strongly encouraged to convert to IV injections.”
Currently, 15 states prohibit shelters from using carbon monoxide as a method of animal euthanasia, according to the American Humane Association, an animal and child-welfare nonprofit agency.

But when House Bill 788, which outlaws the use of gas chambers, came to a vote on the House floor last Tuesday, State Rep. Gene Maddox, a veterinarian from Cairo, argued against it. Maddox said carbon monoxide chambers were the most humane way to put down wild or feral animals who are not used to being handled by humans. Thet bill, sponsored by Cumming Rep. Tom Knox, was approved by a 115-46 vote.

It, along with House Bill 1106, are now in the hands of the Senate.

The second bill, sponsored by Maddox and unanimously passed Wednesday by the House, requires shelters to scan animals for an identifying microchip when an animal is brought to the shelter and again before euthanizing it.

If a chip is detected, the bill requires shelter employees to make a reasonable effort to locate the owner.

Animals sent to Hall County’s animal shelter are already scanned for a chip at least three times, Seabolt said.

“We scan them when they come in the door if they’re a public dropoff, and the animal control officers scan them when they pick them up, and then, we scan them again when we process them — do their vaccines — when they come in,” Seabolt said. “And then we scan them a third time right before we euthanize them just to make sure we haven’t missed a chip somewhere along the way.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Supporters of religious exemption bill say debate isnt over
Conservative groups: Gov. Deal turned his back on people of faith with veto
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ATLANTA — Conservative groups accused Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal of turning his back on people of faith by vetoing a “religious freedom” bill and vowed Tuesday to keep up the fight for years to come.

“This is only the beginning,” said Virginia Galloway, who represents the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Georgia.

The bill enumerated actions that “people of faith” would not have to perform for others: Clergy could refuse to marry same-sex couples; church-affiliated religious groups could invoke faith as a reason to refuse to serve or hire someone. People claiming their religious freedoms have been burdened by state or local laws could force governments to prove a “compelling” state interest overriding their beliefs.

More than 500 companies joined a coalition led by Coca-Cola and other big-name Georgia firms urging Deal’s veto. The Walt Disney Co., Marvel Studios and Salesforce.com threatened to take business elsewhere. The NFL suggested Atlanta could lose its bids for the 2019 or 2020 Super Bowl.

“I thought that was very disappointing to see Governor Deal in Georgia side with leftist activists and side against religious liberty,” Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Monday while campaigning in Altoona, Wisconsin.

President Barack Obama, for his part, was never under the impression that last year’s Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage would lay to rest the struggle for equality, justice and fairness, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

“That struggle goes on,” Earnest told reporters accompanying Obama on Tuesday to an unrelated appearance in Atlanta.

“The president comes down on the side of fairness and equality and opposing discrimination in all its forms every time,” Earnest said. “It’s the president’s strong view that we can take all the necessary steps to protect religious freedom without giving people the approval to discriminate against people because of who they love.”

It remains to be seen whether GOP leaders can gather three-fifths majorities in both houses to request a special session. Even then, with 11 Republicans and all Democrats voting against the bill, they may lack the two-thirds votes needed to override Deal’s veto. Action may have to wait until the legislature returns in January.

Sen. Marty Harbin, a Tyrone Republican, said supporters will “work until there’s a change in governor if that’s what we have to do.”

Republican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, a top candidate for the GOP governor’s race in 2018, said the vetoed bill struck “the right balance.”

“I’ve always advocated for Georgia’s status as the No. 1 state to do business, but as we move forward I will never lose sight of the importance of an individual’s right to practice their faith,” Cagle said.

Deal, a Baptist, will be able to exercise his veto power during two more legislative sessions before he leaves the governor’s mansion. Now 74, he has said he doesn’t plan to run again.

Supporters said Deal caved to corporate pressure.

“There was an economic threat that was put on Georgia by Disney, the NFL and any other person in Hollywood,” said Garland Hunt, a pastor at The Father’s House in Norcross. “Because of economics, he faltered.”

Georgia Equality, the state’s largest gay-rights advocacy group, now plans to push for legal protection specific to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents in employment, housing and other services. State law currently offers none.

“I really would hope after three years of debate, which has become very toxic, that we can get leaders from the faith community, from both parties and from a variety of political perspectives to come together on a new approach,” said the group’s executive director, Jeff Graham.