How do you euthanize a snake?

Answer 1

There are three accepted methods - chemical (barbituate overdose), chemical (carbon dioxide), and projectile (firearm). The only one you could possibly perform properly at home would be the firearm method, and this only if you have a good knowledge of firearms, have the proper caliber of firearm and grain of bullet, know exactly where to place the shot (between the eyes isn't it, and neither is through the hear), and can make the shot correctly on the first attempt.

Because euthanasia via firearm is technically difficult to accomplish properly without extensive training and preparation, most owners elect to have a veterinarian use the chemical (barbituate overdose) option. This is the "pink sauce" or injectable euthanasia solution that is given in a single bolus directly into the vein; the barbituate anesthetizes the animal then stops the heart, resulting in a painless slide into death. Because the barbituate is a controlled drug under US law, only a veterinarian can acquire the drug and authorize its administration; generally the veterinarian is the one to actually inject the drug.

In shelter situations, carbon dioxide can be used, although this is falling out of favor and use due to pressure from animal rights and humane organizations. In this situation, lab-grade concentrations of carbon dioxide are introduced into an air-tight chamber holding the dog; the high concentrations anesthetize then euthanize the dog. However, the transition isn't as smooth as what you typically see with a barbituate injection.

Answer 2

This question is valued and answered only by the opinions expressed about such subject matter. As such there are two sides to this question: The Animal Rights side and the Animal Welfare side.

What the Animal Rights Side's Answer is:

No. There is nothing "humane" about killing anything...or anyone. The reason being is that if you substitute "animals" for "humans" it is equivalent to murder. "Humane" is just a man-made word to alleviate a person's own guilt about having to kill an animal.

From PETA.org on slaughtering of cattle:

"...cows are forced through a chute and shot in the head with a captive-bolt gun meant to stun them. But because the lines move so quickly and many workers are poorly trained, the technique often fails to render the animals insensible to pain...many animals are still alive and conscious for as long as seven minutes after their throats have been cut..the industry makes more money the more animals it kills..."

You can view more information on the above in the related link below, as well as the slaughtering methods for pigs, chickens, turkeys, ducks and other animals.

Euthanizia for animals is just as cruel and inhumane as slaughtering animals for food for the same reasons: they still know what's going to happen to them, and no animal should have to go through that.

What the Animal Welfare Side's Answer is:

Yes there is. Much research has been done to slaughter or euthanize animals so the pain they experience is minimal to nil. It is also more efficient in terms of expenses and costs to kill an animal as quickly as possible--in other words, there's just no money in torture, therefore why have it? Not all slaughterhouses are cruel and inhumane to animals, more because it takes more understanding of the science of how animals die--and what goes through their heads immediately before slaughter--through unbiased research apart from what PETA had "uncovered" above.

In the form of slaughtering of livestock, especially the act of cutting the throat, it is done in such a way that the animal dies quickly and without pain. Cutting the throat, if done properly, is like accidentally cutting yourself accidentally with a sharp object: you notice some pain, but not enough to cause any concern. It's more the sight of blood that causes distress than anything. But the animal dies within seconds of this traditional Halall method of slaughter, without distress or discomfort of any sort. As in the case of more conventional slaughter methods, depending on the animal, when the animal is stunned with a cap-bolt gun or electrocution, the throat is cut immediately after so that the animal bleeds out before it wakes up or regains consciousness. This is not just standard practice but mandatory for all slaughter facilities in North America for better efficiency and higher meat quality. If these practices are not followed by any of the workers, regardless if they are illegal immigrants or impoverished, the company loses money on the carcasses or cuts of meat that have to be discarded due to inferior meat quality.

The cap-bolt gun is a gun that is designed to fire a steel rod deep into an animal's brain to render it unconscious. To do it properly, one must make an invisible X with their eyes from the ears to the inside of the eyes of the animal--bovine (cow, bull, steer, heifer or veal calf), horse, pig, sheep, lamb or goat--and aim for the center of that X. Firing the cap-bolt is no different from firing a firearm: merely squeezing (some call it "pulling") the trigger. This same X is drawn when an animal is slaughtered on the farm, or needs to be euthanized, with the same effectiveness. These same animals can be electrocuted to stun them by placing metal electrodes in front of the ear and behind where the organ-controlling area of the brain is located--called the Medulla Oblongata--or on either side of the head in front of the ears, sending a strong electric pulse or "shock" through the brain which knocks them out.

Chickens (as well as ducks, geese and turkeys) are slaughtered by electrocution as well. Unlike what PETA has mentioned about the slaughter of chickens, the current must be set high so that they are rendered unconscious, then beheaded before being defeathered then dismembered and gutted. While chickens are shackled by their feet before going into the electrocution chamber, it's just an easier method to handle them without having to go on a wild-goose chase for a loose chicken. (It's standard practice on farms for many, many, years to grab a chicken by its feet because that's the easiest way to catch them.) Like with the other livestock mentioned before, chickens are beheaded before they head to the defeathering tub. With home slaughter of chickens, their heads are removed with a sharp axe upon being placed on a stump or, with Joel Salatin's open-air chicken slaughtering operation as shown on the documentary Food Inc., beheaded with a sharp knife with their heads sticking out of a cone. Death is quick, efficient, and they don't hardly feel a thing. Then the defeathering, gutting and cleaning is done before being wrapped up and sold fresh to waiting customers.

The thing that must be understood about humane slaughter is not only efficiency due to cost concerns associated with animals not slaughtered properly as mentioned above, but that meat from calm animals is of better quality and more highly valued than meat from stressed, tortured animals. In cattle, "dark cutters" are such carcasses that have dark meat to them because of the high stress an animal went through prior to slaughter. Cortisone, a hormone that regulates the body's response to stress, coarse's through an animal's blood stream when being handled roughly or put in a state of sheer panic. Because it takes a long time for such hormone levels to decrease, animals which have been stressed prior to slaughter have dark meat--meat considered undesirable and inferior to any and all consumers alike. Not only does the look of the meat turn them off, but the texture, tenderness and overall quality can cause a consumer complaints too.

As far as euthanasia is concerned, it too is controversial, but a necessary evil, more so than slaughtering animals for food as discussed above.

People who condemn euthanasia as "cruel" and "inhumane" have no understanding of what it's like to be responsible for having to choose for the best interests of an animal in your care. PETA considers animals that are "[suffering] from convulsions and muscular spasms" are slowly dying, which is not true. In connotation with above, an animal that is "suffering" from muscular convulsions and spasms, but doing nothing else, is actually well and truly dead, not alive. Muscular spasms does not, nor should not tell a person that an animal is still alive: eye movements, breathing and vocalization are indications that an animal is still alive.

Aside from that, euthanzia, if done properly, is the best method to let an animal die in peace, especially of that animal is suffering from an injury or disease that cannot be cured or is giving the animal far more pain than it can bear. Nothing is more cruel and inhumane than letting an animal that you care about die a slow and painful death, regardless of the species. And if you can't bear to have an animal euthanized for whatever reason, you have no right to own or care for any animal, nor even consider yourself an "animal lover."

Euthanizia is, literally, the most selfless choice you can ever make for an animal. You are doing something to that animal in that animal's best interests, not yours. (FYI, choosing not to euthanize a suffering animal may be considered selfish because you are making such a choice based on your own interests/agenda, not the animal's.) It is a very difficult choice, not something to be all sunshine-and-daisies about, nor is it something any owner would want to do: every pet owner would rather have their pet dog or cat die a peaceful, natural death instead of having to go to the vet's to have them euthanized. But what every true animal lover and pet owner would want is to not have to have their animal suffer anymore because they love them--they are a part of the family--and because after everything they have tried to do or every specialized animal hospital they went to in efforts to save their beloved animal, they realize that the best thing to do was to put their dog or cat to sleep.

With livestock, it's slightly different, because euthanizia of a cow or pig is based a little more on monetary value to the farm as a whole rather than love. This may sound cruel to those of you in the midst of considering supporting Animal Rights over Animal Welfare, but the truth of the matter is, a farm animal that is found to be with an illness or disease that is incurable or cannot be cured without extensive costs incurred to save that one animal, it is cheaper (sadly) to euthanize it than to spend the money that could otherwise go into other parts of the farming operation to save that one animal that could very well die. Exceptions are with hobby-farm livestock producers who have the money to spend on such animals and are willing to go to great lengths to save their prized bull or ewe, or those farmers who care a lot more than the "Average Joe." Regardless, a good livestock producer is one that cares for his animals, and if he finds an animal that is suffering and beyond help, he knows the best he can do for them is to euthanize it. As mentioned before, it is much crueler to leave an animal to die a slow, painful, horrible death--which is equivalent to torture--than to end its life as soon as possible.

As far as this question is concerned, a bit of research, insight and education to the psychology of animals and humane methods of killing animals will quickly lead you to discover that there is indeed, a humane way to kill animals.

Please see the related links and questions below for more information.

Answer 3

Take it to a vet. The vet will give it an injection

Answer 4

In a veterinarians office, it is commonly done by a slow, steady injection of Phenobarbitol, which is completely painless.

Answer 5

Take it to a vet and pay the nominal fee to have the vet do it as humanely as possible.

Answer 6

The "best way" is to have a veterinarian administer a sedative which will allow a pet to pass away quietly and painlessly .

Answer 7

I love this simple solution; take it to a vet. Years ago, when we were a smarter breed, putting a bullet in their head was the fastest way. Now we are civilized and we need a vet to take care of the problem for us, but at a high price. Used to be able to vaccinate my own animals by buying the prefilled syringe at the feed store. Now we get to pay through the nose to have a vet give them a shot. I have an old cat, that doesn`t know where he is, most of the time. He eats and then i find his fecal material in different locations around my house, instead of in the cat box. I think the 22cal bullet is the fastest for this job. Thank you for your non assistance in my plight.