CHARLOTTE, N.C. --

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“I wanted to cry. I was so sure our state would do the right thing.” –Animal rights activist on Wednesday’s decision

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More than 100,000 animals were gassed to death in North Carolina shelters in 2006.

Of the 100 counties in the state, 37 use carbon monoxide gas chambers to eliminate unadoptable pets. The other 63 use what is regarded nationally as the more humane method, lethal injection.

National and local organizations have worked for years to get the state to put an end to gas chambers and it looked like Wednesday it was going to happen.

The State Board of Agriculture met to discuss and vote on a set of new regulations that would standardize, govern and make euthanasia more humane throughout the state. One of the key provisions of the new rules was the four-year phase out of gas chambers and mandate to use lethal injection instead.

While the board agreed unanimously to make numerous positive changes, they removed the elimination of gas chambers from the vote. This means gas chambers are still legal, under stricter, more regulated guidelines.

“I wanted to cry. I was so sure our state would do the right thing,” said Terry Kenny, an attorney and animals rights activist from Gaston County.

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Kenny belongs to the NC Coalition For Humane Euthanasia, a group that tracks shelter practices throughout the state and that lobbied for the rules change.

Since the change was actually written into the document that went before the Board of Agriculture, many thought it was a done deal.

Gas chambers are already banned in many states, the North Carolina decision caught Kenny by complete surprise.

“I was shocked. I really thought we would take a step in the right direction,” she said as she produced a plethora of news articles and documentation all showing gassing to be inhumane at best.

Among her files were numerous documented cases of animals found alive at dumps after being gassed.

There are cases of puppies and kittens, which should not be gassed by law, suffocating in chambers because their lungs aren’t developed enough for the carbon monoxide to work humanely.

There are instances of humans who work around the gas chambers getting sick.

There are cases of animals having to be gassed multiple times before they finally die.

So, if it’s so horrible, why is it still allowed? There are several arguments for continued use of gas chambers.

Lethal injection necessitates close contact with an animal; consider trying to get a needle in a violent, large, rabid dog for example. On the other hand, animals are picked up by a noosed pole and placed into gas chambers, arguably making it safer for people.

Also, many shelters cite cost as a reason to stay with gas chambers. Some chambers allow room for multiple animals at once to be put to death, while injection is a one-at-a-time affair.

Some supporters also claim a gas chamber is easier on the psyche of shelter workers. They claim is it easier to put an animal into a box and turn on gas than to have to watch it die basically in your arms.

Shelter workers we talked to disagree strongly with these points.

Pat Sanford, a woman who ran the Orange County Animal Shelter for decades and now is on the board of several private and government animal services organizations said the opposite is true in most cases.

Sedatives, put in a dangerous animal’s food, can be used before lethal injection, she told us.

She said workers she knows find it mentally better to comfort an animal up close as they die rather than unceremoniously shoving them in a metal death box.

And on cost, everyone we talked to pointed out Mecklenburg County’s program as a response.

The largest county in the state has not used a gas chamber in more than a decade, using lethal injection exclusively. With an enormous volume of animals they manage costs with greater efficiency than other counties that use gas chambers.

One regulation that was passed will eliminate some of the gas chamber horror stories.

Counties that use “home made” gas chambers, and some of them do, are now required to buy and use approved devices.

Some additional rules regarding training and certification were also adopted.

Here is a list of North Carolina counties that currently use gas chambers to kill unwanted animals:

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Gaston, Cleveland, Davidson, Iredell, Wayne, Union, Catawba, Rowan, Brunswick, Randolph, Sampson, Craven, Pamlico, Wilkes, Alamance, Burlington, Caldwell, Rockingham, Cabarrus, Stanly, Columbus, Nash, Lincoln, McDowell, Beaufort, Wilson, Chowan, Gates, Perquimans, Vance, Bladen, Person, Stokes, Montgomery, Davie, Watauga, Johnston, Granville County, Lee, Washington, Yadkin

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It is worth mentioning that there was one thing that both sides of this issue agreed on. Every shelter in the state is at or near full capacity and the pet population is way out of control. Everyone would prefer not to kill any animals by any means, but that will never happen until more people spay and neuter their pets.

For the extended interview with Kenny, and for a look back at a WSOC TV special report from 2000, check the sidebar of this article.