Last week, a gas chamber used for euthanization at the animal shelter in Malden was demolished. It was one of five known gas chambers left in the entire state.
Amanda Good, the Missouri Director for the Humane Society of the United States, said two months ago, an advocate contacted the Humane Society about the shelter’s new leadership and their interest in getting rid of the gas chamber using the available $3,000 grant it had turned down two years prior.
“I was there the day after they pulled it out, and it is definitely inoperable,” Good said. “It cannot be used again.”
Good said the chamber hasn’t been used in 4 years, and the shelter has since been using a veterinarian for euthanizations.
The Chief of Police for the Malden Police Department, Jarrett Bullock, took over the shelter on July 1, and it’s the second shelter this year to give up its gas chamber for grant money from the Humane Society.