Less Than One Month Until Greyhound Racing Vote

Next month, Massachusetts voters will get yet another chance to ban greyhound racing in their state. The last election (in 2000) was very close, with the dogs losing and sentenced to further boredom and loneliness, living in kennels, combined with dangerous spurts of activity that could easily fatally injure them, break their legs, or paralyze them (and don’t think the owners are going to pay for their medical treatment).

For those who say racing isn’t dangerous, I don’t even allow my greyhounds to play race with other dogs because of how easily any of them can get seriously injured while running at 40 mph (they’re a bit slow since their "retirement"). They cut each other off, leap over each other, and when they turn you’re sure they’re going to dislocate their legs at the hip.

And that’s when they’re playing.

The industry–even according to the industry–is dying.

It’s certainly changing," said Gary Guccione, executive director of the National Greyhound Association. "It has downsized in recent years. We’ve seen a decrease in the number of tracks and dogs being bred."

In the 1980s there were more than 50,000 greyhounds bred each year to race at about 60 tracks nationwide, Guccione said. This year, the number of dogs will drop to under 20,000 and the number of tracks has been cut almost in half.

Here’s a great article from AnimalLaw called "Greyhounds: Racing to Their Deaths." In these tumultuous economic times, it could be very easy for the industry to convince the public that the thousand or so jobs the tracks provide are more important than the dogs. Out of fear, people who might otherwise vote against the tracks might change their vote. And that would be a shame. Christine Dorchak of Grey2kUSA said any loss of jobs was regrettable, but added, “Our economy should not be built on cruelty to dogs.”

Of course, I don’t think our economy should be built on using dogs for entertainment and profit, regardless of the number of injuries and deaths. It’s pathetic that when some humans observe the talents and gifts and beauty of other sentient beings, all they see is dollar signs. And it’s unethical, not to mention disgusting, that our system is set up to help them amass as many dollars they can, in any way they can, and will defend their right to do so.

Go to The Committee to Protect Dogs to learn more, and tell everyone you know in Massachusetts to Vote Yes on 3! Let’s continue to chip away at the industry, and accelerate its deterioration to a quicker death that its on pace to experience.

Every state ban helps thousands of dogs.