By Danielle Ring
As the clock inches closer to race time, the Florida air feels like a hot, wet dishrag. The stands are filled with men and women out for an evening of entertainment. Everyone, it seems, has carefully placed a bet after thoroughly researching previous results. They wait, almost as anxiously as the dogs who bark raucously from within their starting boxes.
Finally, the lure is ready to go. The wooden box doors open, and hundreds of pounds of muscle thunder against the sandy track in pursuit of the lure. The dogs speed past the stands in a blur, make their way around the turns, and circle back in front of the frenzied crowd. A camera snaps the photo finish to help determine the winner. A hundred or so feet past the finish, the lure retreats to its cage, and a squeaker sound rewards the dogs’ efforts. They pant heavily and move slowly now, but in a few minutes, this scene, a composite drawn from previously published material, will repeat itself with another fresh set of eight dogs.
Those with winning tickets collect their profits, but their victories, when viewed as part of a sport that generates more cruelty than wealth, are indeed hollow. At greyhound race tracks all across America, as HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel showed recently, there is a “back room” where lethal injections are prepared for those dogs who are not considered profitable racers. Kennel workers bring around a wheelbarrow to cart away the bodies of animals deemed just seconds too slow for the sport.
Sometimes, though, the greyhound racing industry considers a vet and a needle unaffordable luxuries. At many lower-grade tracks, according to groups such as GREY2K USA, dogs are often discarded through other, more sinister means: electrocution, starvation, gunshots, and mutilation during the course of a race. Tens of thousands of “slow” greyhounds are killed every year before reaching the age of three. In a normal lifetime, greyhounds can be expected to live upwards of 13 years.
In the latter 20th century, people have made remarkable strides toward developing a more humane society. We have more cruelty-free choices for food, clothing, and entertainment. Animal welfare organizations such as The Humane Society of the United States have become very effective in creating a more animal-friendly society through education, advocacy, and litigation.
So how come a sport as cruel as greyhound racing still exists today?
The Noble Greyhound and Racing
As the oldest known breed of dog, greyhounds were the noble companions of pharaohs, kings, queens and aristocrats. A greyhound’s amazing speed, agility, and sight have endeared him to hare hunters in Europe for the last several thousand years. When English and Irish immigrants came to America, they brought their greyhounds. The open flat land of the Midwest was ideal for the sport of “lure coursing” for hares; plus, greyhounds were successful in ridding the area of crop-nibbling jackrabbits.
American greyhound racing began as an alternative to lure coursing. Owen Patrick Smith invented an artificial lure made of a stuffed rabbit skin. Despite many ups and downs over the century, greyhound racing eventually became a popular spectator sport in America.
By the mid 1980s, few people had ever seen greyhounds outside of a racetrack even though 45,000-50,000 dogs were being bred for the sport every year. Because the dogs were reputed to be bloodthirsty, too energetic or too difficult to care for in a home setting, most greyhounds were not adopted by the general public. Only people with ties to the track knew otherwise and adopted a few of the dogs whose racing careers had ended. So began the legacy of killing surplus dogs.
Today, greyhound racing is legal in most states. In all, there are more than 40 greyhound tracks operating seasonally or year round in 15 states. Florida is the leader among racing states with 16 tracks. Greyhound racing is illegal in just eight states: Idaho, Maine, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.
While insiders claim that the greyhound industry has made many positive changes in the name of animal welfare, racing is still an inherently cruel activity. Each racetrack needs approximately 1,000 dogs to operate a full race schedule. According to greyhound adoption and welfare groups, only about half of those 1,000 dogs will be adopted by the public.
If anything has improved in greyhound racing, it is that more people know about the plight of the dogs, and that hundreds of adoption groups now exist to rescue greyhounds who previously had no means of escape. Otherwise, it is the same old story: Dogs are overbred and killed, are forced to live in cramped cages, and suffer countless acts of cruelty in the name of entertainment.
Industry Perpetuates Abuse: Five Recent Examples
As if the killing of tens of thousands of young dogs per year were not enough, greyhound racing has also produced a number of senseless tragedies since its inception in the United States. Since 1990, there have been more than 50 media-documented cases of abuse. Since February 2005 alone, five cases have caught the attention of the American public.
Mystery Illness in Massachusetts
At Revere’s Wonderland Greyhound Park in Massachusetts, greyhounds began showing signs of a virulent respiratory infection this past spring. Despite efforts by veterinarians, as many as 19 dogs died from the illness, which was ultimately unidentifiable. The track suspended racing temporarily and quarantined all greyhounds, but too late. Because greyhounds are often moved from one track to another depending on their racing abilities, the illness spread. Eventually, the illness—now a full-fledged epidemic—infected as many as 10,000 dogs across the country. It killed at least 100 dogs.
Hundreds of Connecticut Racers Have Nowhere to Go
As most racing insiders will admit, greyhound racing is decreasing in popularity as people find new sources of entertainment. Most people today prefer the instant gratification of slot machines and Internet gambling. Fighting for its survival, the racing industry has been able to find new ways of infusing cash into a dying pastime. In some cases, tracks have added slot machines, as in the case of Broward County, Florida, where voters elected to install slot machines at its tracks last fall.
While the slots may save some tracks, other operations are simply choosing to close. The Plainfield Greyhound Track in Connecticut decided to shut its doors in May after 30 years of racing. The decision was sudden, sending 1,200 greyhounds to an undecided fate. As it turned out, most were sent to other tracks to race; the remainder—about 200-300 dogs—were absorbed into the adoption network, an already overburdened system trying to find homes for the other 20,000 dogs just coming off the nation’s tracks.
Eighteen Greyhounds Needlessly Die
In the early hours of June 1, a fire alarm went off just like it was supposed to at the Naples Fort Myers Greyhound Track in Bonita Springs, Florida. The guard on duty rushed to the wrong kennels—twice. At the same time, kennel owners just starting their day found smoke suffocating their normally sleepy dogs. The owners eventually learned that built-up dander in an old air-conditioning unit started the fire, which went out on its own, but the damage was done. All told, 18 dogs were dead, and the remaining 64 kenneled greyhounds were suffering from various stages of smoke inhalation. All of the dogs who survived were put up for adoption, never to race again.
Heat Claims the Lives of Eight Greyhounds
The road from Tucson, Arizona to Juarez, Mexico is a long and hot one, especially when transporting 35 dogs in the back of a trailer with adequate air-conditioning for only 20. In June, race dog trainer Greg Burgess was fined and suspended from racing for loading more dogs than regulations permitted and for stuffing multiple dogs in each crate. However, it was a little too late for eight of the dogs who died en route.
Greyhounds Rescued from Unsanitary Kennels
In July, Arizona greyhounds again made the news. Someone complained about race dogs being kept in deplorable conditions at John Rippetoe’s kennels in Pima County. Animal workers investigated and confirmed the truth: More than 70 dogs covered in fleas and ticks, malnourished, dehydrated, and living in unsanitary conditions. Two dogs had died at the kennel after other dogs reportedly attacked them. The remaining 70-plus were lucky enough to be rescued. They are currently being nursed back to health by local organizations, and will ultimately be put up for adoption.
Unfortunately, events like these are all too common in racing. Many are never reported to the media, and greyhounds simply disappear from the records. As Kelly Connolly in The HSUS Companion Animal section puts it, “Since racing is first and foremost a business, profits will always be of greater importance than greyhound welfare.”
Spreading the Word
Eliminating greyhound racing is possible through education, compassion, and action. Here are some compassionate actions you can take:
Don't patronize greyhound tracks or bet on dog racing.
Do your own research into greyhound racing and educate your friends, family, and co-workers about the sport. Encourage them to boycott greyhound racing and betting.
Volunteer your time or expertise to a local greyhound protection organization.
If you live in one of the 15 states that operate greyhound racing tracks or in one of the 42 states that has not yet banned the sport, write to your state officials to express your opposition. Tell them that greyhounds belong in loving homes, not on race tracks, and that the sport should be banned. Look up your local officials here.
Get the media involved by submitting letters to the editor about greyhound racing.
If you are interested in adopting a companion animal, consider contacting a greyhound rescue group.
Danielle Ring is a freelance writer based in the Washington D.C. area.
