Rebecca Guinn, who drafted the original version of HB 788, with Grace in the Capitol.

Valerie Hayes

 

Related articles

Cobb County Animal Advocates meeting very well attended

Georgia poised to ban the gas chamber effective December 31, 2010

Interview with Nathan Winograd, part one of two

I was there: one volunteer’s view of a shelter’s transition to No Kill

'Building No Kill Communities' lights the way for change in Georgia

The signing ceremony for Grace’s Law took place in Governor Perdue’s office at the Georgia State Capitol on June 4, 2010. Grace’s Law, H.B. 788 had actually been signed into law without any fanfare on May 20, along with numerous other bills, thus becoming Act 386.

As of December 31, 2010, it will be illegal--totally, completely, and unequivocally illegal, to kill shelter pets in gas chambers in the state of Georgia. No more grandfather clauses. No more loopholes. Just plain against the law of the land. Struggles are heating up in other states to accomplish something similar to what Georgia has, perhaps most notably in North Carolina and Texas, though there are others. They are looking to Georgia and to what we accomplished here. A bit of ceremony is called for on an historic occasion such as this, and a bit of ceremony is what we got.

Several members of the Georgia Voters for Animal Welfare’s Grace’s Law team were present, along with House Bill 788 sponsors Tom Knox* and Mary Oliver, and Cheryl McAuliffe, Georgia director of HSUS, most meeting in person for the first time. And Amazing Grace herself was there, escorted all the way to the Governor’s office from Chicago by her adopter, Phil Draughon, a Georgia native, and his son, Kyler. The rest of the team met for the first time the dog whose story and resilience inspired them to persevere through three legislative sessions before finally meeting with success, and she was a charmer. She was a celebrity, recognized by a few people who stopped to take pictures.  It was an extraordinary day, described by those who were there as “magical”, “surreal” and “dreamlike”. We won. It’s almost hard to believe it, but we won. The team was there on behalf of all Georgia voters who supported the bill. We won. The gassing of dogs and cats in Georgia’s shelters must end by December 31, 2010.

That’s one meaning for the day, but there are others. Citizens in counties that still gas pets can work to end it sooner than December 31, 2010, as a rescuer in Cuthbert has already begun to do. December 31 is still over six months away, and that could mean the gassing of thousands of animals. And citizens can demand that the chambers be dismantled so that they may never be used again anywhere. If you live in one of the following places, this means you:

1. Ashburn, City of (In Turner County. No county facility--chamber housed in city.)
2. Butts County Animal Control
3. Cobb County Animal Control
4. Cordele, City of (Crisp County)
5. Cuthbert, City of (In Randolph County. No county facility--chamber housed in city.)
6. Haralson County Animal Shelter
7. Hawkinsville, City of (In Pulaski County. No county facility--chamber housed in city.)
8. Henry County Animal Control
9. Lakeland, City of (In Lanier County. No county facility--chamber housed in city.)
10. Mitchell County Animal Control
11. Vienna, City of Animal Shelter (In Dooly County. No county facility--chamber housed in city.)
12. Spalding County Animal Shelter (Press release from 2009 states that they switched to EBI (euthanasia by injection) for “dogs and cats”. They still gas feral cats, however.)
13. Savannah-Chatham Metropolitan Animal Control (Claims to gas only “wild” animals.)

Grace's Law bans one particularly barbaric means of killing shelter pets, but does not ban the killing itself. It mandates a more 'humane' method of killing--'euthanasia by injection' or EBI. But, the killing of healthy and treatable animals is not euthanasia, which, by definition, can only be applied to animals which are irremediably suffering. It is killing. No Kill shelters routinely save 90% or more of the animals that come through their doors. They accomplish this by following the 11-point program known as the No Kill Equation, the only proven system for taking shelters from overkill to No Kill and keeping them that way.

Already there are some exciting things happening towards that end—the Cobb County Animal Advocates has formed and proposed its Action Plan to Cobb County Animal Control.

Grace has opened more doors, both literal and figurative, than we yet know. On that day almost four years ago, when a nameless hound mix was placed inside the Liberty County gas chamber** along with several other dogs, and the door sealed shut, who could have predicted that she would survive? She was spared, and who really knows how or why? She became Amazing Grace, and a series of events began that led to her walking into the Governor’s office to be present at the signing ceremony for the law that bears her name, and to meet some of those people her story had inspired to work to put an end to gassing in Georgia animal shelters. She was the star of the day, and we all owe something to that nameless hound dog. The ceremony, like all ceremonies, was done for its symbolic meaning to people, but according to Phil Draughon, the man who adopted Grace, the whole experience meant something to Grace too:

The trip was good for Grace in an obvious measure. Before the trip,
she was always timid. A loud clap of books dropping, an overconfident
dog muscling in on her dinner, an excited utterance about a story at
work, the occasional argument--these things would frighten her; she
would roll over on her back and take a submissive posture. She would
always walk with her head down, her neck in a straight line with her
spine. I never could get her to stop being so excessively submissive.
But the trip changed all that. I noticed she's holding her head up
like a champion racehorse. One of the dogs last night tried to help
himself to her dinner while she was still munching, and she set him
straight--he got on with whatever he was doing! I don't know to what
degree she understood what was going on Friday, but I am confident
that she knew this: she was at the center of it, and she loved every
minute of it.

*Representative Tom Knox, whose tireless dedication was absolutely essential to the passage of Grace’s Law, is running for Insurance Commissioner. The primaries are coming up, and several others are competing for the same spot on the Republican ticket. Animal advocates should remember what he’s done and consider supporting his bid for Insurance Commissioner.

**Now defunct.

Become a fan of Amazing Grace on Facebook.

Become a fan of the Georgia Voters for Animal Welfare on Facebook.

If you liked this article and would like to receive other articles by the Atlanta Animal Welfare Examiner by email, just click the 'subscribe' button at the top of this page.

Become a fan of the Atlanta Animal Welfare Examiner on Facebook.

Don't forget to check out Examiner.com's Spring Fling adoption drive!