Greyhounds race for home
By JAMES WALSH
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: July 18, 2004)
Greyhounds can reach 45 mph in just a few seconds, but
they'd just as soon take a nap.
Couch potatoes is what they're called by Roberta
Mikkelsen of Pearl River, one of several volunteers for Greyhound Friends of
New Jersey who were acquainting passers-by with the breed yesterday outside
a Nanuet pet shop.
"People think they need a lot of exercise, that they're
hyper all of the time," said Mikkelsen, herself the owner of an adopted
greyhound. "You can take them on two walks a day, and maybe let them run
around once in a while in a fenced area."
Tim Clemensen of New City and his wife, Robin, were
thinking about adopting a dog when they spied the five greyhounds and their
owners on a shaded sidewalk by Petsmart.
"The only dog we'd get would be a rescued dog,"
Clemensen said. "There are plenty of dogs out there to adopt."
He paused from petting one of the greyhounds.
"But these are a special kind of dog," he said.
"They're beautiful animals, and when they're no longer running races they're
of no use to their owners so they're available for adoption."
Greyhound Friends of New Jersey is one of about 300
greyhound rescue organizations in the country. Fifteen states permit dog
racing, including Connecticut, which has tracks in Plainfield and
Bridgeport.
There are no dog tracks in New York or New Jersey.
"We're promoting awareness," Greyhound Friends
volunteer Kathy Carstensen of Teaneck, N.J., said of
the group's efforts.
"Most people have never seen them and don't know
anything about them."
Members of the group also will show their greyhounds at
the Suffern Street Fair on Aug. 1.
Yesterday, Carstensen was showing two of her adopted
greyhounds, Joey, 8, and Pio, 9.
"They're like potato chips," she said with a laugh.
"You can't have just one."
As tempting as they might be, potential adopters can't
just walk away with one.
"I'd rather they take an application and go home and
think about it," Carstensen said. "This isn't
something to do on an impulse. It's a commitment."
The group arranges about 250 adoptions annually.
Applications ask questions including whether anyone in
the household has allergies, what other pets are in the home and how long
the dog would be left alone during the day.
There is a minimum tax-deductible donation of $200 to
pay for inoculations as well as spay/neuter surgery.
With the application comes a fact sheet.
Because they spend their lives at race tracks,
greyhounds can be unfamiliar with other surroundings. Walking up and down
stairs, for example, can be a new experience.
"They also don't know about glass," Mikkelsen, the
volunteer, said. "If they saw a rabbit or a squirrel, they could go right
into a sliding glass door. People can mark the door with tape for a while
until they get used to it."
Greyhounds also have keen eyesight - they can see
things a half-mile away - so they must always be walked on a leash,
Carstensen said.
"If something catches their eye," she said, "it could
be a squirrel or a piece of paper, they're gone!"
But they're not inclined to tug on the leash, and they
walk at the pace of their human companions.
"They're Velcro dogs," Carstensen said with a laugh.
Sleeping is a favorite pastime, and the greyhounds
yesterday were more than willing to demonstrate their prowess at napping.
Among their visitors were Dot and Jerry Saracco of
Clifton, N.J.
Jerry Saracco was drawn to the breed after seeing one
with a customer at his service station.
Dot Saracco found the visit worthwhile.
"I always thought they needed a lot of exercise, and
that they were hyper," she said as some dogs napped while others watched
passers-by. "But that's not true. They're really very docile."
For more information, go to
www.greyhoundfriendsnj.org
.
Letters to the editor:
[email protected]
250 wds or less, incl name, address,
phone # for verification.
This is a good opportunity for us to get in some of the
true facts about this sordid 'sport.' Greyhound racing factsheet below; also
visit www.grey2kusa.org
:
From Peta's website
www.peta.org :
Greyhound Racing: Death in the Fast Lane
The natural speed and grace of greyhounds have been
exploited for human benefit since the days of the ancient Egyptians. The
dogs have been used for centuries in hunting and coursing events, but the
advent of modern dog racing at the turn of the twentieth century caused
greyhound breeders and racetrack proprietors to think of this breed as a
mere commodity.
Greyhound racing continues to be big business, bringing
millions of dollars in revenue to the 15 states that still allow it. Today,
however, the cruelty of the industry is finally being exposed, and thanks to
the resulting public outcry, there has been a decline in the number of
spectators who are attending greyhound races. Unfortunately, these financial
losses may be contributing to poor track conditions, which have caused a
marked rise in animal injuries at some tracks. (1)
Alabama Man Kills Thousands of Greyhounds
In May 2002, the remains of approximately 3,000
greyhounds from Florida racetracks were discovered on the Alabama property
of a former racetrack security guard who had been "retiring" unwanted
greyhounds with a .22 rifle for more than 40 years. (2) The attorney for the
accused, who faced up to 10 years in prison on felony cruelty- to-animals
charges, said, "If there's anybody to be indicted here, it's the industry
because this is what they're doing to these animals. The misery begins the
day they're born. The misery ends when my client gets a hold of them and
puts a bullet in their head." (3)
The Alabama greyhound massacre made it more evident
than ever that racing greyhounds are treated as "running machines," produced
in quantities that require the disposal of surplus dogs and dogs who are
injured, old, or deemed too slow or no longer profitable.
Winners and Losers
Thousands of greyhounds are killed each year as the
declining dog-racing industry struggles to stay alive. Some puppies are
killed in the name of "selective breeding" before they ever touch a
racetrack.
Dogs who do qualify to become racers, at around 14 to
17 months of age, typically live in cages and are kept muzzled by their
trainers at all times. Many exhibit crate and muzzle sores and suffer from
infestations of internal and external parasites. Although they are extremely
sensitive to temperature because of their low body fat and thin coats,
greyhounds are forced to race in extreme conditions- ranging from subzero
temperatures to sweltering heat of over 100 degrees.
Few dogs make it to the nominal retirement age of 4 or
5. Injuries and sickness-broken legs, heatstroke, heart attacks-claim the
lives of many. Others-such as Randad, a dog in Alabama-are victims of track
machinery. Randad jumped onto the lure rail, was electrocuted, then became
entangled on the mechanical lure. (4) Another dog, Tune Me In, suffered for
30 minutes before being euthanized after he was badly cut by a mechanical
lure at a Florida track. (5) At one track in Iowa, more than 100 dogs were
injured and 18 died during the first nine months of the year 2000. The
track's general manager defended his track by claiming that "top-notch dogs
run harder and are more injury-prone." (6)
Still other dogs die during transport from one
racetrack to another.
It is industry practice to carry up to 60 greyhounds in
one truck, with two or three dogs per crate, and to line the floor of these
"haulers" with ice rather than providing air conditioning. (7)
The backs of these trucks reach temperatures in excess
of 100 degrees on a summer day, deadly conditions for animals who cannot
sweat to cool themselves. In 2002, several greyhounds died on a truck during
a 100-mile trip between Naples and Miami. (8)
Conditions for the animals "at home" are often not much
better. A Massachusetts man was charged with cruelty after 10 greyhounds at
his farm were found to be severely dehydrated and suffering from
malnutrition. (9) Heatstroke killed 53 dogs in a West Virginia trailer that
had been converted into a kennel; the air conditioning malfunctioned, and
the owner did not open any windows or turn on a fan. (10) Most dogs who slow
down and become unprofitable are either killed immediately or sold to
research laboratories.
In 2002, a former greyhound kennel owner and an
assistant faced felony charges for selling more than 1,000 greyhounds for
medical experiments. They claimed to be running a greyhound "adoption
agency." (11) Some unwanted dogs suffer further cruelty. In one such
instance at Idaho's Coeur d'Alene Greyhound Park, a female greyhound was
taken from her crate and placed in the middle of a crowded room on a wet
floor, then a man shoved a metal wire into her rectum and attached an
alligator clip onto her lip, and she was then electrocuted.
Witnesses said that it was not the first
time that a race dog at the park had been killed in this way. (12) The state
of Idaho has since banned live dog racing.
Other Animal Victims
Midwestern farmers who use greyhounds to kill coyotes
in the winter have begun to race the dogs during the summer, using dead
coyote skins as lures "to keep their dogs in shape." (13) In live-lure
training, greyhounds are encouraged to chase and kill rabbits who are
hanging from horizontal poles so that the dogs will chase the inanimate
lures used during actual races. Officially, the industry now frowns upon the
once-sanctioned practice of using rabbits, guinea pigs, and cats as bait for
live-lure training, but the method continues to be used.
Ronald Floyd was prohibited from running dogs at Oregon
tracks in 1999 after he allowed six dogs to die of heatstroke inside a van,
but he was not prohibited from breeding the animals. Investigators had to
find a dead rabbit in his driveway following yet another greyhound death at
his farm in 2002 before the commission finally pulled his license to race,
train, and board dogs. (14) Later that year, the
Arizona gaming commission suspended the license of a
trainer who was caught attaching live rabbits to the "whirligig" that
greyhounds chase around the track. (15) One Massachusetts breeder says that
she sends her 1-year-old greyhounds to Oklahoma for six to eight months
"where they learn to race by chasing jackrabbits."
Help and Hope
Greyhounds are usually gentle, quiet, and friendly, and
some lucky dogs are placed in caring homes. Reputable adoption groups,
funded by donations and staffed by volunteers, save as many retired
greyhounds as they can. There are more than 200 greyhound rescue groups in
the U.S., the U.K., and Western Europe. The Greyhound Protection League
www.greyhounds.org
organizes adoption programs throughout the U.S. and distributes
information about the racing industry. Although adoption helps, the only way
to ultimately end the abuse of greyhounds is to put an end to racing. The
industry is slowly dying because of competition from casinos and a lack of
interest from younger gamblers who are looking for games with faster action.
At Oregon's Multnomah Greyhound Park, less than $11 million was wagered in
2002, compared with $25 million in 1995. (17) The Washington Post noted the
dwindling numbers of breeders, bettors, and purses and concluded that "the
sport has declined so sharply even its aficionados see no real hope for its
revival." (18)
Dog racing is illegal in 34 states but continues in
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, West Virginia,
and Wisconsin. (19) Even states that have banned live dog racing may still
permit off-track or satellite wagering and the breeding of racing dogs. In
an attempt to revive dog racing, some state legislatures and lobbyists are
rewriting gambling laws to allow the tracks to install slot machines and
video lottery terminals.
GREY2K USA
www.grey2kusa.org is lobbying for
legislation to put a stop to greyhound racing.
You can help to educate racing supporters by leafleting
at a local track. Even if your state has banned greyhound racing, it is
likely that it has breeding kennels that are supplying dogs to other states.
Write letters to the editors of your local newspapers
explaining why it's vital that we put an end to this cruel and useless
sport.
References
1)"Injuries to Dogs Increase at Dairyland," Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel, 15 May 2003.
2)"Ex-Pensacola Security Guard Admits Killing
Greyhounds," Associated Press, 22 May 2002.
3)Buddy Bracken, National Public Radio, 31 May 2002.
4)Benjamin Niolet, "Greyhound Death Spurs BRC Change,"
The Birmingham News, 29 Jun. 2000
5)Charlie Whitehead and Becky Wakefield, "Greyhound
Group Files Complaint Against Track After Dog Injured During Race," Naples
Daily News, 10 Mar. 2000.
6)William Petroski, "Greyhounds Die at an Alarming
Rate," Des Moines Register, 3 Nov. 2000.
7)Luisa Yanez, "Inquiry Launched in Death of
Dogs-Greyhounds Likely Died From Heat," The Miami Herald, 13 Aug. 2002.
8)Yanez.
9)Michael Jones, "Charges to be Sought in Greyhounds
Case," The Boston Globe, 9 Feb. 2000.
10)Amy Gareis, "Heat Stroke Kills 53 Greyhounds in West
Virginia Kennel," The Wheeling Intelligencer, Jul. 2000.
11)Associated Press, "2 Charged in Deaths of Former
Race Dogs," 1 Jan. 2002.
12)J. Todd Foster, "Slow Greyhounds Electrocuted on
'Hot Plate,' Trainers Say," The Spokesman Review, 17 Sep. 1995.
13)Kristi Wright, "The Ancient Tradition of Racing
Finds a Contemporary Counterpart on the Plains of Nebraska," Omaha World-
Herald, 15 Oct. 2000.
14)Stuart Tomlinson, "Eagle Creek Man Loses License to
Raise Greyhounds," Portland Oregonian, 27 Jun. 2002
15)Mary Jo Pitzl, "Dog Breeder Gets 60-Day Suspension,"
The Arizona Republic, 15 Nov. 2002.
16)Judith Gaines, "Down to the Wire of Greyhound Racing
.," The Boston Globe Magazine, 5 Nov. 2000.
17)Tomlinson, "Dog Racing Struggles to Stay on Track,"
8 May 2003.
18)Andrew Beyer, "Greyhound Racing: A Sport Gone to the
Dogs," The Washington Post, 27 Feb. 2000.
19)National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling,
"Greyhound Facts," 2003
www.ncalg.org/GreyhoundFacts.htm
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