MOUNT VERNON — Fairfield County made news this week by voting to end the practice of gassing dogs and switching to lethal injection for euthanizing dogs at the county shelter.
The change means they are catching up to Knox and most other counties. According to the Ohio County Dog Wardens Association, less than a dozen counties (out of 88) still use gas.
Knox County made the switch “four or five years ago” said Dog Warden Jim St. Clair, who has been warden since the beginning of 2011. Actually, St. Clair said, he was a bit surprised that someone was pushing for the change since both the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Humane Society of the United States list gas as second behind lethal injection for animal euthanasia. The Knox County shelter does sometimes use gas for nuisance animals, but those more often have to be dispatched at the scene, St. Clair said.

