Greyhound Racing

After posting about Bubba yesterday, I decided I wanted to learn a bit more about the greyhound racing industry. I was not pleased. Racing greyhounds are horribly misused - and that's only as long as their owners deem them worth keeping. When the dogs stop winning races and making money, often times they're put to death. In addition, many owners breed dozens of puppies in order to create a champion. The dogs that aren't considered good racing investments are also euthanized. "An estimated 5,000 dogs were killed in 2003," reports Grey2K USA, a United States greyhound advocacy group.

In 1996, Idaho Governor Phil Batt stated, "Greyhound racing depends upon selecting a few highly competitive dogs out of a large group. It hardly seems worth it to me to go through that process of breeding and killing the ones that can't compete, just to have the sport."

While many states no longer permit greyhound racing; and, Massachusetts even banned it based on popular vote - ten states still permit it. (To read more about Massachusetts's racing ban: Behind the Tracks of Greyhound Racing and a win in 2008 for Massachusetts.)

Racing greyhounds are horribly mistreated. They're kept hours a day in kennels far too small for them; in many cases there's no room for them to stand or lie down. As well, they're fed low-grade meat, because it's cheaper, and transported between tracks in awful, hot, cramped trucks.

It's an awful industry. Please keep informed of voting in your area to ban racing, and do all you can to help. Check out Grey2K USA's website for more information.