🕊️ Euthanasia & Non-Releasable Animals · 7 min
Making and carrying out the decision
Why this matters
Euthanasia does not mean you failed. It means you are ending the animal's suffering. Beginning rehabilitators who cannot hold that idea end up keeping animals that should not be kept.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to
- Apply a structured framework to a euthanasia decision
- Identify the factors that make a method appropriate
- Dispose of carcasses legally and safely
Humane euthanasia is sometimes a necessary part of rehabilitation. Not all animals can be saved. More than half of the animals brought into rehabilitation centers die or must be euthanized.
The three questions
- Is there an effective and humane course of treatment available to you?
- Once treatment is completed, will the animal be able to re-enter the wild with a high chance of survival?
- If the animal is not releasable, is there any justification for keeping it in captivity other than avoiding euthanasia?
If the answer to all three is no, the decision is made. An animal that cannot function normally in its natural habitat will not survive there.
Choosing a method
Three factors matter together: a technique that minimizes stress and pain to the animal, the experience of the rehabilitator with that technique, and the safety of the technique for the rehabilitator.
- Where veterinary support is available, a euthanasia drug is the method of choice. Many humane techniques require injectable drugs and can only be performed by a veterinarian.
- Carbon dioxide can be used for some species, and requires a tightly sealed container of 100% CO2 vapor.
- Spinal dislocation should only be used by an experienced rehabilitator.
- Consult the AVMA Guidelines for the Euthanasia of Animals.
Reptiles and amphibians are different
Freezing is not an acceptable method for cold-blooded vertebrates. Reptiles and amphibians have adaptations that let them survive prolonged oxygen deprivation and cold, so CO2 and other inhalation agents may also be inadequate. The recommended technique is to anesthetize the animal first, then complete euthanasia.
After
- An animal euthanized by lethal injection is best cremated. The drugs are toxic if eaten, so the carcass must never be accessible to scavengers, fed to a predator, or put in the trash.
- An animal that died of illness may be deeply buried or incinerated.
- Your license permits carcasses to be donated to someone with a valid license to possess them, buried or incinerated immediately, or used as food for wildlife held under the license (with the injection caveat above).
- Giving or selling bodies of dead wild animals for taxidermy is illegal.
- Schools, nature centers, museums and colleges sometimes hold the permits to accept dead animals for teaching or research. Precise information about when and where the animal was found makes it far more valuable to scientists.
- For threatened or endangered species, disposal requires approval from NYSDEC or the federal agency, which may want the entire cadaver for research.
Non-releasable but alive
Placement in a licensed captive facility is hard to find, especially for common species. The decision to send an animal to spend the rest of its life in captivity must not be taken lightly. Consider the facility, the animal's temperament, and its rarity. Some highly strung species never adjust, live in constant stress, and show stereotypical or self-destructive behavior. Condemning those individuals to that life is inhumane, and euthanasia is the kinder option. A blind turtle, a bird missing a wing at the elbow or above, a mammal that cannot forage: these are not candidates for a cage.
This lesson is part of the NY Wildlife Rehabilitator Exam course. Open it in the course to answer the retrieval checks that go with it, track what you have read, and quiz the whole unit. Lessons, quizzes and the glossary are free.