Why Ban Greyhound Racing?

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
Executive Director
The Humane Society of Tucson
Tucson, Arizona

The ugly truth behind greyhound racing. These were dogs brought to be killed at a shelter at the end of the season because they were no longer of use for dog racing.

Sadly, greyhound racing is not a "sport" about fast dogs, but a state-sanctioned form of gambling ruled by profit. It is inherently cruel to a gentle and ancient breed of dog once favored by nobility.

When greyhounds do not run profitably, they are of little use to the racing business. Thousands of greyhounds are killed each year in the United States alone. Despite racing industry propaganda, there are simply not enough homes for all the discarded greyhounds.

The discards of an American business.

Since 1990, there have been more than 51 media-documented cases of mistreatment of greyhounds, collectively involving thousands of dogs. These cases include greyhounds shot, abandoned, left starving in their crates, sold for medical experimentation, and even electrocuted.

Those greyhounds lucky enough to make it to a racetrack typically live in crates for 18-20 hours per day with exercise limited to only every fourth day or so when they race. Some are left muzzled almost constantly. The dogs are often fed raw meat from diseased livestock rejected by the USDA.

It is virtually impossible to regulate greyhound racing to ensure humane conditions for the dogs. Individual state regulations are of little use because a dog may be bred/trained in one location and then race in several different states. More importantly, economic interests always stand to prevail over any regulations or concern for the dogs. At some tracks, owners/trainers of unprofitable kennels barely have enough money to feed racers, much less provide medical treatment or humane death. In other instances, trainers are afraid to speak out about abusive situations or poor conditions for fear that they will lose their jobs. All parties involved with the dog racing industry - including track owners, state governments, and even some greyhound adoption groups - have a monetary incentive to cover-up or ignore abuses and to keep secret the massive numbers of dogs killed annually.