Charlie Wilkes writes:

On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 21:08:57 -0700, Sherry wrote:

On Aug 17, 2:08 pm, Charlie Wilkes
wrote:
On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 02:36:11 -0400, Upscale wrote:

Drowning (or suffocation as it might be called) brings on
unconsciousness within a few seconds. An animal does not know to take
a big breath like a human might. Unconsciousness happens in less than
10 seconds

What is your source for this information? I don't believe it. A
neighbor of mine had a problem with feral cats nesting under his deck,
and he drowned some of them years ago. He said they would struggle for
a good 3 minutes, and after about the second or third one, he started
shooting them instead.

Charlie

I have a hard time believing it too. It came to our attention that a
animal control in a neighboring
town was trapping skunks, and drowning them in the traps. I lobbied hard
over this. I don't care if
they *are* skunks, I thought it was a terrible, frightening, and
inhumane way to die.

Sherry

Mark Twain said this: "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into
trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so."

It's easy enough to research topics like this on the web and find out
what the experts think. The American Veterinary Medical Association's
Guidelines on Euthanasia (June 2007) can be found he

http://www.avma.org/issues/animal_we...euthanasia.pdf

Drowning is listed in "Appendix 4 - Some Unacceptable Agents and Methods
of Euthanasia" with the comment, "Drowning is not a form of euthanasia
and is inhumane."

Note that those are guidelines for vets.

In a veterinary context there are many methods available that bring
on sudden death or allow for the animal to be sedated first.