Dry Ice Euthanasia

[Mylez]

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Thoughts? Opinions?

Who believes that it is a humane, effective way of euthanasia?

I work at a center that uses it as the primary method of euthanasia, and nothing I have seen has shown that it is quick, causes fast unconsciousness, and no pain. Anyone else?

 

[chris03333]

Thoughts? Opinions?

Who believes that it is a humane, effective way of euthanasia?

I work at a center that uses it as the primary method of euthanasia, and nothing I have seen has shown that it is quick, causes fast unconsciousness, and no pain. Anyone else?

Depends on the set up and the animal (including the age) euthanized. I would not personally want to use this method for euthanasia. You can look up euthanasia via carbon dioxide to help you find more information. Although, not very many people actually use dry ice, it is more usual to have a CO2 tank/chamber set up. Hope that helps some 🙁

 

[weeziefive]

What types of animals is your facility using the dry ice on? We use CO2 with chickens at work, and it isnt necessarily the most peaceful process. But its either that or decapatating them. So the CO2 wins. But we use euthanol on calves or other large animals that we receive. But usually we try to give a sedative before hand so the animal is not stressed when we are drawing blood and injecting them with the euthanol. (I work for a diagnostic lab, in which we get live specimens...Just so know one thinks we are a vet practise that euthanizes any animal)

 

[Bill59]

The 2002 AVMA Panel on Euthanasia concluded that rapid freezing is not a humane method of euthanasia. If freezing is used, animals should be anesthetized first.

Dry ice is sometimes used as a source of carbon dioxide. CO2 is acceptable in certain situations but the source should be bottled gas, not dry ice.

For details: AVMA report on euthanasia

 

[kate_g]

There were a couple articles in Nature about the ethics of using CO2 to euthanize lab mice - but as has been mentioned before this is generally gas from a cylinder that's pumped into a box where the mouse is. Anyway, there was at least one News & Veiws piece that referenced an actual article either in Nature or another journal. It was some time in the past month or two. You can check it out if you have institutional access. (And if not, you might be able to see at least the news & views piece for free on the Nature web site.)

 

[birdvet2006]

The 2002 AVMA Panel on Euthanasia concluded that rapid freezing is not a humane method of euthanasia. If freezing is used, animals should be anesthetized first.

Dry ice is sometimes used as a source of carbon dioxide. CO2 is acceptable in certain situations but the source should be bottled gas, not dry ice.

For details: AVMA report on euthanasia

Another vote for others to read the AVMA Report on Euthanasia - this is an excellent resource.

 

[HorseyVet]

Thoughts? Opinions?

Who believes that it is a humane, effective way of euthanasia?

I work at a center that uses it as the primary method of euthanasia, and nothing I have seen has shown that it is quick, causes fast unconsciousness, and no pain. Anyone else?

My only experience with this was with euthanizing rat pups (1-2 days) for research. They were placed on dry ice (I think they had a paper towel under them at first) until they were dead and then decapitated. The rest of the procedure that was done to fix and prepare their brains also involved the dry ice; they weren't CO2ed b/c they needed to be frozen immediately. That was an approved method, or at least it was about 6-7 years ago.

When I was more active with reptiles, freezing pinkies that were not eaten by the reptile was considered humane. In this situation I'm talking about the average person bringing home a pinkie and not having it be eaten and not having acess to other forms of euthanaisia.

My sub-disclaimer on that is that very few snakes cannot be switched over onto frozen rodents. Geckos and other various lizards are sometimes a different matter, and for those there are only really IMO certain cases where crickets and other insects are not more appropriate (such as breeding and gravid animals).

 

[Mylez]

Thanks to all who replied.

The animals that the center euthanizes via dry ice are birds. Songbirds clear up to hawks, which I strictly disagree with. The birds are not frozen, but are put into a container with dry ice. It works, sure, but I hate it. I talked to our director and to the vet I worked for and I've worked out a way where we can have a small amount of euthasol on hand and bring any other euthanasia cases to her to put down.

 

[birdvet2006]

Thanks to all who replied.

The animals that the center euthanizes via dry ice are birds. Songbirds clear up to hawks, which I strictly disagree with. The birds are not frozen, but are put into a container with dry ice. It works, sure, but I hate it. I talked to our director and to the vet I worked for and I've worked out a way where we can have a small amount of euthasol on hand and bring any other euthanasia cases to her to put down.

I'm not sure how familiar you are with euthanasia in birds. But typically, injection of pentobarbitol will not kill the bird in a nice way - they react funny to it. Therefore, it's often done under general anaesthesia (isoflurane). Sometimes thiopentone is used instead of pentobarbitone. Sometimes halothane alone is used (they die with halothane, after they fall asleep). So - this is not a quick and cheap procedure.

 

[PhDtoDO]

Hey,

I worked at the NIH with mice for a while and the recommended cervical dislocation or decapitation. But...with decapitation, the other animals smell the blood and all start to panic. It also takes a long time and so they are panicked longer.

I became really good at cervical dislocation which is so quick and instantaneous. But...I was incharge of managing a very large population and at times would need to kill 40-50 mice. Also, if the mice were mis-sexed we'd get unwanted pups and cervical dislocation is really tricky. THey can also be oxygen deprived and still be alive for much longer than an adult.

So in general, I would use cervical dislocation...its the most humane. But with large numbers I had to use Co2. They panic but are out cold in about a minute.

I heard that some people don't make sure they are dead and then just throw them in the freezer and they could be still alive and suffer needlessly so I would leave the gas on for at least 5 minutes and use dry ice on pups to make sure they died.

I hated this part of my job, but I've always felt that because I care about animals, even mice, I'm a good person for the job.

FWI I do AIDS research.

PhDtoDO

 

[lilhmbrg]

Dry ice is not recommended as a humane method of euthanasia that I know of. Especially for birds (especially for big birds like hawks, yikes, that sounds horrible).

Cervical dislocation of birds, when done correctly, is very humane (quick, painless). I've done both cd and co2 (have worked with many avian and poultry-only vets) and although cervical dislocation isn't pretty (especially if you decapitate) it's way better than witnessing the gasping and struggling of birds as they suffocate. However, in outbreak situations (and at many diagnostic labs) cervical dislocation just isn't possible, so CO2 has been recommended by USDA (and AVMA? I think) as an acceptable method.

 

[mammalmama]

The vet that I work for is also a wildlife vet and sees all kinds of birds all the time (including birds like owls and hawks). I've seen him have to euthanize several of these types of birds and he uses the euthasol that we have at the office. He uses about 1cc of it and the birds die instantly. They don't freak out and then die. They fall asleep like the dogs and cats that I have seen done and die very peacefully. I don't know too much about Dry Ice euthanaisa, but I have heard from the people at the wildlife center say that they prefer the euthasol over the dry ice for birds.