Schiff Hardin LLP and PETA Prevail in State Court Case Brought to End Cruel Method of Killing Homeless Animals

For Immediate Release:
March 18, 2009 

Contact:
Holly Beal  757-622-7382 

Atlanta -- Representing two plaintiffs and working in conjunction with PETA, attorneys from the Atlanta and San Francisco offices of law firm Schiff Hardin LLP have won a lawsuit to stop the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) from granting licenses to animal shelters that use cruel gas chambers to kill cats and dogs, in violation of state law. Schiff Hardin originally brought the suit in 2007 on behalf of two clients--a former Clayton County Humane Society employee (whose dog was hit by a car and then killed in an illegal gas chamber) and former state Rep. Chesley Morton. In 1990, Morton introduced Georgia's Humane Euthanasia Act, which bans the use of gas chambers for euthanizing animals in counties with more than 25,000 residents. PETA retained Schiff Hardin after receiving complaints that dogs and cats suffered prolonged, frightening, and agonizing deaths while being crudely gassed. 

"We were presented with terrible stories of animals suffering in illegal gas chambers," says Attorney Bruce Wagman, who leads Schiff Hardin's Animal Law practice. "All we wanted to do was have the state enforce the law and stop the pain and suffering which was endemic to the use of the gas chambers in many Georgia shelters. Many counties and the state refused to comply with the law, and so Schiff Hardin and PETA were forced to seek and win this permanent injunction against this activity." 

Judge Tom Campbell of the Superior Court of Fulton County, Atlanta Judicial Circuit entered a permanent injunction against the GDA's practice of approving and encouraging the illegal use of gas chambers. Evidence presented in the case included testimony from a witness who described incidents in which cats slammed themselves against the walls of the gas chamber in desperate attempts to escape and dogs who howled and clawed at the metal grates of the chambers while they slowly suffocated.  

"This is a victory for all the homeless cats and dogs across the state of Georgia who must be euthanized because of a lack of good homes. Now, these animals will be spared great pain and terror in the final moments of their lives," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "It's unfortunate that it took a court order to convince the Georgia Department of Agriculture to stop defying state laws that were put in place to protect animals." 

Schiff Hardin LLP is a general practice law firm with nearly 400 attorneys and offices in eight cities across the country. 

Copies of the court order are available on request. For more information about PETA, please visit PETA.org.