The euthanasia process is not complete until
death has been verified. Dramatic stories
about euthanized animals “waking up” after
euthanasia are not modern-day miracles, but
examples of grievous failures in the euthanasia
process—the animal was not administered an
amount of drug sufficient to depress essential
brain functions, and so never moved from Stage
III, surgical anesthesia, into Stage IV, medullary
paralysis; in effect, the animal was never
actually euthanized at all. If the technician had
properly tried to verify death he would have
discovered that the animal’s basic life functions
had not been completely suppressed, and
would have recognized that administration of
additional sodium pentobarbital was necessary
to achieve euthanasia.
Unless proper verification steps are taken, it
is surprisingly easy to mistake an animal for
dead. Sodium pentobarbital is a potent drug
that puts animals into a deep anesthetic plane
that can fool even longtime technicians. The
animal can appear lifeless, without any evidence
of breathing or heartbeat, yet still retain
minimal life-sustaining functions. The animal
may survive in this state until the drug wears
off, sometimes many hours later, and then will
appear to “revive.” Because episodes like this
are possible, it is essential to develop a protocol
for the verification of death and ensure that it is
followed for every animal, without exception.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the implications
of failing to verify death are monumental.
The trauma for the animal who “wakes up” in
a landfill, freezer, or worse, is unimaginable,
and the guilt experienced by the euthanasia
technician responsible can be overwhelming.
Moreover, media reporting of such an incident
can do lasting damage to the reputation of a
shelter, and the loss of the public’s trust can be
permanent. For all these reasons, verification of
death can be viewed as the most crucial aspect
of the euthanasia process, and the euthanasia
technician must take responsibility for
checking each animal and ensuring that death
has in fact occurred. If there is any doubt, the
animal should be injected again with sodium
pentobarbital and rechecked until death is
definitively confirmed. Only at that point
should proper disposal of the animal’s body be
made, in compliance with policy and with state
and local laws