More Radicals

The following was taken from the web site of an avowed anti-racing adoption group, the same page that features the photo of Fever, the starved dog. In the interest of accurate quoting the word "Fact" has been left in this selection, even though the use of that word is dubious, to say the least. What appears in bold type is inserted for comment.

Fact: Greyhounds must be bred in large numbers in order to produce only a few exceptional racers.

Question: If that were true would we have approximately 50,000 dogs racing when only about 30,000 are bred annually? You can't have only winners; some dogs have to finish sixth, seventh and eighth in every race. The above sentence would lead one to believe ONLY the exceptional dogs compete and survive.

Fact: Cases of abuse and neglect of greyhounds by trainers and breeders are under-reported due to fear of retaliation by industry peers. The relatively small number of cases reported usually come from those who have defected from the industry in abhorrence of industry injustices and grotesque abuses witnessed.

Question: If these alleged cases of abuse and neglect are NOT reported, how can the writer claim knowledge of them? Doesn't it stand to reason that if no one knows about them the writer wouldn't either? And one of those people who was famous for having "defected" from the industry and was well-known for his tales of abuses was, in fact, an owner of racing greyhounds at the time of his death--still screaming to his dying day of the abuses in the industry he "left". Who knows what thrill he got from his duplicity?

Fact: Because greyhounds are generally docile by nature, they are prime specimens for research and veterinary teaching schools. The number of greyhounds turned over to these institutions has been greatly underestimated as demonstrated by a recent disclosure that over 900 greyhounds had been surrendered by trainers to a Colorado veterinary school in one year. The figures had been previously reported to be in the range of 300 until greyhound rights advocates uncovered the grisly truth. The dean of this veterinary school admits they destroy 500 greyhounds per year that are not even used for any teaching purposes.

Question: Again, if no one--including the writer-- knows how many dogs go to research facilities and schools, how can she insist the numbers are "greatly underestimated?" Assumption that those Colorado numbers are universal? Or does she have telepathic powers the rest of us don't have?

Fact: After their association with the racing industry was exposed, the Colorado university agreed to eliminate their practice of destroying the glut of dogs coming off the Colorado race tracks; however, it is interesting to note that the number of dogs now available to adoption programs in that area is nowhere near the large numbers once being turned over to the university — where are those dogs? Are they being shipped off to other areas where they can be disposed of without the media attention and heightened public awareness that now exists in Colorado?

Answer: Since about the time the Colorado State University Veterinary School agreed to eliminate their practice of putting down dogs many more Colorado dogs have been going to other states for adoption. In fact, one of the largest adoption groups in the United States (a group operating mostly in Washington) now gets a large percentage of its' greyhounds from Colorado, where before they got almost none from that state. Another Washington group gets nearly ALL of its' dogs from Colorado--a group that didn't exist before the CSU fiasco. Does the writer assume the adoption market in Colorado could absorb all those additional dogs? In fact, the dogs ARE "available to adoption programs in that area." They just can't take them all.

Fact: Greyhounds are transported long distances during the heat of summer in trucks without air conditioning. There have been tragic reports of trucks reaching their destination only to open the compartments and find dead or dying greyhounds as a result of exposure to extreme heat.

Question: If this were as commonplace as the writer would have us believe, wouldn't the owners of these dogs--who have invested thousands of dollars in EACH ONE--pursue legal action against the haulers? Or at least put them out of business? There was ONE such "tragic report" written up in the Greyhound Network News and they're unlikely to miss the opportunity to report something like that (see Greyhound Network News).

Fact: Other species of animals are destroyed as a result of the dog racing industry, besides dogs. Methods for training the most successful racers involve the torture and mutilation of animals that are used as "live lure" to heighten the prey instinct of the greyhound in training. Dogs trained by this method are considered ineligible for competing on most tracks; however, track officials often turn their heads to allow these more aggressive, crowd-pleasing dogs to compete

Question: Live-lure training is illegal in all but one state and has been banned by the NGA, making dogs trained that way ineligible at EVERY track sanctioned by the NGA. But how would the track officials know which dogs to ban? Is it written on the dog's side: "Live-lure trained?" And why would these dogs be more "aggressive, crowd-pleasing" if the lure they're chasing in the race is a stuffed toy? It doesn't SMELL like a live animal, nor is it running on the ground. And if the "most successful racers" were all live-lure trained--in the ONE state where it's not illegal--why would anyone train dogs in any other state?

"Anti-racing" and "adoption group" are almost mutually exclusive, contradictory terms. The groups that are radically opposed to racing spend more time trying to brainwash the public than they do placing dogs and that is born out in the numbers of dogs they place, in contrast to neutral and pro-racing adoption programs. And what they can't seem to fathom is that they have made themselves enemies of the very people from whom they expect to get dogs. Why would owners, breeders and trainers deal with someone who wants to take away their livelihoods? Many will not.

So what is the goal of these groups? Helping find homes for retired racing dogs? Or furthering their personal agendas, at the expense of the very animals they claim to care about so much? If they succeeded in doing away with greyhound racing tens of thousands of greyhounds would be killed suddenly and the breed would virtually disappear.