"[My] department monitors the financial
aspects of greyhound racing, but the welfare of the animals is the responsibility
of the owners and trainers…"
Doug Philips, Spokesperson
Florida Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees Parimutuel
wagering in Florida
"Dog racing seems to be on the decline throughout the nation. I think it's a good thing for Idaho to close this chapter in its history."
Idaho Governor Phil Batt
upon signing into law a bill to ban greyhound racing in the state
The Spokesman-Review
March 19, 1996
"The pari-mutuel industry is dying, so let it die a natural death."
Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland
"This is not the kind of economic activity we would want to bring back to Vermont."
Vermont State Senator Helen Riehle
The Times Argus
March 16, 1995
[Track owners and supporters] try to claim that the tracks are falling victim to unfair competition, but the truth is that they are just on the wrong side of history. Interest in racing has been falling off for some time."
Arizona State Senator Marc Spitzer (R-Phoenix)
in response to a $6 million tax reduction bill for the state's horse and
dog tracks, which passed both houses in the closing hours of the 1994 Arizona
legislative session
Phoenix New Times
May 18-4, 1994
"Bills eliminating dog racing in Massachusetts have come and gone on Beacon Hill for several years, but the current bill before the Legislature, cosponsored by Representative Shaun Kelly, a Dalton Republican, should be passed, ending the barbaric practice for once and for all."
The Berkshire Eagle
Western MA
March 15, 1997
"One dog track is in bankruptcy and another is projected to cost Connecticut taxpayers about $1.4 million this year…. Having tried to resuscitate these gaming operations over the past few years, it's time for legislators to take them off life support."
The Hartford Courant
Editorial board
March 14, 1997
"It may be time to recognize dog racing
for what it is: A gambling fad whose heyday is over...
...recently, the parimutuel operators asked a task force for permission
to run high-stakes bingo games and for additional relief from taxes and
unemployment compensation costs. Where will it end? It's time for the state
to say, 'Enough'."
The Hartford Courant
Editorial board
February 5, 1997
"Lawmakers were fooled once before into
believing that race-track betting would be an economic bonanza for the state.
They oughtn't to be fooled now into thinking that government help can keep
an inherently unstable enterprise afloat.
…the workers would be better served in the long run by expanded state
and local efforts to diversify regional economies, and to create more stable
businesses. Propping up volatile ventures that might fail anyway is not
economic development."
Milwaukee Journal
Editorial on track owners' request for a tax bailout
June 6, 1993
"Twenty-five years ago, racing dominated U.S. gambling. In that far off time, parimutuels [horse racing, dog racing and jai alai] were the largest game in town, with a 28% share of the national market. In 1995 they held just 8.4%. What went wrong?….A visual comparison of the smiling crowds flooding into Orlando and Las Vegas with the annually decreasing trickle of aging, cigarette-smoking fans into thinly populated racetrack grandstands says more about what has happened to the industry than any amount of statistical description."
International Gaming and Wagering Business
Eugene Martin Christiansen, Christiansen/Cummings Associates, Inc.
Annual overview of the gaming industry - 1995 in review
August 1996
"A racing kennel environment is different than a pet situation, but it is certainly a humane situation. The kennels are very clean, the dogs are given the best feed, medical attention and have social interaction with each other at turnout time. It is a happy environment in a racing kennel. If it were not, the greyhounds wouldn't perform."
Gary Guccione
National Greyhound Association
Topeka Capital-Journal - May 9, 1996
"Because they are athletes (therefore performance animals), any substandard treatment is going to make them noncompetitive, forcing the irresponsible right out of the business."
Dr. Paul F. Kippenberger
Board of Directors, National Greyhound Association
Boston Globe North Weekly, letter to the editor
November 24, 1996
"To suggest that dogs coming from tracks typically have broken bones, worms, and open, infected wounds is simply a bunch of garbage."
American Greyhound Track Operations Associationweb site
January 7, 1997
"They were all basically starving."
Veterinarian John Robb
remarking on eight emaciated greyhounds who had been brought to an adoption
facility by a Licensed trainer at Plainfield Greyhound Park in Connecticut.
At least two of the dogs had recently raced at the track.
Associated Press
January 12, 1997
"In early May our group took in six dogs
from a 20-doug haul, rescued from the Sanford-Orlando Kennel Club, which
was closing for the season. I had been warned that some of the dogs were
in 'rough shape' but I was not prepared for what we saw when they arrived.
"Almost all of the dogs had deep, open pressure sores on their rumps,
far worse than the usual crate baldness. All of them were heavily infested
with fleas, ticks and internal parasites. One female had an infected gash
on her neck; her tail was completely missing leaving her rectum exposed.
Another female's back left foot had 'dropped toes,' usually the result of
torn ligaments and/or broken bones. One male had a respiratory infection
and a 105-degree fever. Another male had a staph infection; his entire body
was covered with large pus-filled blisters.
"All of the dogs received appropriate medical care and are now doing
well in permanent or foster homes."
Donna Lakin, President
Second Chance for Greyhounds, Michigan
Greyhound Network
News, Fall 1996
"Since March [1996] our group has made
three trips to a Florida track kennel and rescued more than 50 greyhounds.
We took dogs from four of approximately 20 kennels there. The stench was
overpowering in the dark, airless building. The dogs peered at us through
the broken wires of dilapidated wooden crates.
"The dogs were infested with fleas and ticks; even in the darkened
building we could see the dogs' coats moving. Most dogs were in terrible
condition; severely underweight with hip and rib bones sticking out. One
female had a bladder infection and was urinating blood. She died later despite
our efforts to save her. One male went into convulsions en route –
we almost lost him. We later learned that this dog had been beaten by his
trainer for urinating in his crate. He is now in a loving, adoptive home
and his convulsions have stopped.
"We did encounter several owners and trainers who took good care of
their dogs but they were far outnumbered by those who cared little for their
racing greyhounds."
Name Withheld by Request
Greyhound Network News
Fall 1996
"The greyhounds that end up at the shelter
were just entering the prime of their life, but were just seconds too slow
for racing. I saw some racers that were perfectly healthy, with good flesh
and temperament, only to die because they did not win at the tracks. I saw
wounds, gashes, infections and broken legs that were left untreated. I saw
dehydration, starvation, infestation of parasites, anemia, torn ears and
flesh from track accidents or fights."
"Finally in August of 1992, I could not take it any longer. I had received
twelve dogs from an owner/trainer, only to find five dogs in deplorable
condition. I had to take a stand, not just for the five greyhounds in question,
but the 1,200+ other racing greyhounds (killed at the shelter from 1987-1992)
who never had a chance."
John Perreault
MSPCA Shelter Manager
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
"When cattle die, regardless of what infectious
or contagious disease, the carcasses are often salvaged by rendering plants.
The cadavers are boned out, the flesh ground and frozen. It is not heated,
cooked, or sterilized in any way. The rendering plants are not USDA inspected
but they are 'monitored' and are required to add charcoal to it to keep
it out of the human food chain. They label it 'unfit for human consumption.'
[Many] greyhound people feed each animal a ration of this 'pathogenic smorgasbord'
daily. They have the erroneous idea that when greyhounds are fed raw meat,
they run faster. Of course, the meat may contain many pathogens that killed
the cattle in the first place as well as many of the drugs that were used
to treat the sick cattle before they died."
Dr. Arthur Strohbehn, DVM
an outspoken critic of feeding 4-D meat to racing
greyhounds
Former Track Veterinarian
Council Bluffs, Iowa
"Most drugs are not detectable in urine tests…. They enable a trainer to fix races for gambling purposes and certainly shorten the dog's life."
Steve Bergeron
trainer at The Coeur d'Alene track in Idaho (now closed) in a letter of
complaint regarding daily cruelty to greyhounds to state investigator Tom
Beal.
The Spokesman-Review
September 17, 1995
"It was sick. Some of the dogs were still crying and there was nothing we could do."
Captain John Decareau, Lynn Fire Chief
regarding the 87 greyhounds who were burned alive at a kennel compound which
houses approximately 1,000 dogs racing at Wonderland Park in Revere, MA.
The compound still does not have a sprinkler system in the wooden buildings.
Boston Globe
February 16, 1992
"…so long as people are willing to
go to the track and bet money on which dog will win, many, many dogs will
die. There are some things which could be done to reform this "business,"
but such reforms would inevitably effect the profit margin and, hence, will
never be implemented. Adopting a few more of those poor "retired"
old racers is fine; we're all for it and we'll do everything we can to help.
But that approach is like trying to put out an oil field fire with a garden
hose.
"The killing will never stop until people realize that it is the "business"
of greyhound racing which fosters and perpetuates the cruelty, no matter
how hard they try to separate themselves from it. And it's just that simple.
"The cruelty will never end until greyhound racing is out of business."
Gary E. Dungan
Shelter Manager
Humane Society of Tucson
Spring 1992 Newsletter
"I do this [euthanize greyhounds] because
it's the best way to deal with a horrible situation…. It's not wonderful
what I do, but as long as greyhound racing is legal, we need to be sure
that when these animals are disposed of, it's done in the most compassionate
way possible..
"I'm not going to stand on the sidelines because probably the only
way things will change is if greyhound racing becomes a thing of the past."
Dr. Andrew Hillman, track veterinarian at Pensacola Greyhound Track
where 600-800 dogs are reportedly killed each year
Pensacola News Journal
November 24, 1996
"Even if each racer had a satin bed and personal attendant, there is a systematic problem in that the industry creates a financial incentive for the breeding and destruction of dogs."
Jon Schottland, demonstrator at the Hinsdale, NH racetrack
Greyhound Network News - Fall
1993
"We can find a million things to bet on. We don't need tens of thousands of these magnificent creatures to die each year for our amusement."
The Virginia Pilot/The Ledger Star
Editorial in support of a bill to ban dog racing in Virginia, signed into
law in March 1995
"My conscience will not let me condone it or keep it quiet…we chip away, little by little, like water on a stone."
Erika Hartman
Greyhound Protection League
