Under the currency reforms enacted by Roosevelt, the federal government owns the gold and holds it as security for $11 billion in gold certificates issued, in book-entry form, to the Federal Reserve Banks. The Federal Reserve Banks use these certificates as a small fraction of the collateral for Federal Reserve Notes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bullion_Depository
As much as I hate to see pain and suffering in the world, animals have no qualms about eating other animals alive.