"I thought they were being adopted...they deserved better!" |
A RACING GREYHOUND OWNER |
Each year, thousands of greyhounds are "adopted" into the shadowy world of animal labs - no questions asked. They become throw-aways, sacrificed to the horrors of research by greed-inspired individuals profiting from the last breath these dogs have to give.
| reprinted from Greyhound Network News |
"But the dead can count themselves lucky. Those left to live are truly the damned. Their crates are wheeled into the Wide World of Animal Labs. "
Fred Halliday
"A Race to the Death"
Penthouse Magazine, September 1990
Tucson, Arizona:
In January and June of this year, the University
of Arizona (U of A) bought 15 greyhounds to be used for medical
research.
In The Arizona Daily Star on August 8, Stacy J. Willis reported that the dogs were purchased from Gregory S. Wood, an Arizona greyhound breeder and racing kennel owner, for $250 to $350 each. "I don't think anything should be bred for (research)," Wood said. 'But if I goof up and breed too closely and get dogs that howl at the moon all day when there's no moon- a bad actor - why not use that dog?"
The U of A had a specific need for two-year-old, 70- pound greyhounds for anesthesiological, orthopedic, reproductive and cardiopulmonary experiments, and had no suitable candidates from the pool of 81 former racing greyhounds used so far this year, of which 66 were donated. The search for a seller to meet their size and weight requirements led the university to seek a referral from the Flagstaff medical research division of W.L. Gore and Associates, makers of Goretex fabric and medical prosthetics. Gore in turn recommended Wood. Although not a research- licensed breeder, Wood can legally sell up to 24 dogs a year to research facilities under the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal Welfare Act.
Many researchers prefer greyhounds over other breeds. "Greyhounds have a chest cavity where the heart size and lung size is similar to a medium-sized woman or a small-framed man," said Dr. Susan Sanders, U of A Animal Care spokeswoman. "And they are short-haired dogs - you don'thave to wade through a lot of long hair," she said.
Repercussions from the Star article were felt in Phoenix the next week. As reported by The Arizona Republic on August 20, Dan Luciano, manager of American Greyhound Racing Inc.'s Phoenix-area operations, issued a memorandum to about 40 Arizona kennel operators, stating, in part, "It has been brought to my attention that some kennels are selling or donating greyhounds to research laboratories after their racing careers are over. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE and will not be tolerated by Phoenix or Apache Greyhound Parks." The memo also stated that kennel owners continuing the practice will be subject to termination of their racing agreement with the track(s).
Luciano said, "The American Greyhound Track Operators, a professional organization of track owners, opposes the sale or donation of these dogs for research. The public perception of our industry is tied to greyhounds being treated humanely, and frankly, the public perception of the life of laboratory-research animals is not a good one."
Many of the kennel owners said they intended to comply with the policy. Walt Collins, owner of Arizona's largest greyhound kennel, said, "I personally don't see anything wrong with it - as long as it's a licensed research facility. But if the race track feels it's detrimental, I won' t do it anymore."
Gregory Wood said he would continue to put dogs unsuitable for adoption into research programs. "It's foolish to just put a dog to sleep, when they could instead be put to some useful purpose in a USDA-regulated research laboratory," he said.
Susan Netboy, founder of the Greyhound Protection League in California, strongly contested Wood's position. "I can't imagine what's better about torturing a dog than putting it to sleep. It's very hard to tell what goes on behind closed doors at research facilities," she said. "Inspections are few and far between, and I've talked to people who've worked at research facilities and they've been very disturbed by what goes on. Some of these animals die excruciating deaths," Netboy said.
The Arizona Daily Star / Stacy J. Willis
The Arizona Republic / Karen McCowan
[Editor's Note: In a February 1992 Tucson Citizen article, Carla McClain reported that greyhounds have also been used for research at the Tucson Veterans Administration Medical Center and W.L. Gore and Associates in Flagstaff. In Phoenix, biomedical research labs using greyhounds include Arizona State University, Humana Medical Center, Harrington Arthritis Research Center, and St. Joseph's Hospital.]
Summer 1998
Summer 1997
