Jim Inhofe: “I had occasion to talk to a Dr. Mary Ballenger this morning. Dr. Mary Ballenger was called to do a very unpleasant thing…”

“I had occasion to talk to a Dr. Mary Ballenger this morning. Dr. Mary Ballenger was called to do a very unpleasant thing about a year ago. My kids' dog, a Labrador, was 16 years old. She came out and had to put it to sleep because the dog had cancer and was beyond any help and was in pain. She described and wrote down the procedure that she used to destroy the dog. It was necessary. She first injected a drug into the dog, which puts the dog into a euphoric state and is completely relaxed, and then, of course, sodium pentothal to put the dog to sleep. I thought it was ironic, when I look at this procedure. We are so humane in the procedure that we use in putting someone to death who has committed a heinous crime for which he must be destroyed. It is the same procedure, because we are so humane in this country. Yet, we have no concern over the pain that is inflicted on a small person who is a victim of this type of a termination. If I were to suggest that the procedure that was described by the Senator from Pennsylvania were to be used on dogs or cats, the same people who are promoting this procedure would be out there picketing. Something has happened. Perversion has taken place in this country where we put a higher value on critters than we do human life. In fact, under our laws, it is a criminal violation if you were to kill a gray bat that is endangered. It would be a $50,000 fine or 1 year in prison.”