Greyhound Day

A few hours after posting the Three Greyhounds photo, I received a phone call from Grey2K about their latest effort to ban greyhound racing in Massachusetts. Back in 1999, I adopted a very sweet retired racer named Luke from the local rescue organization. He still loves meeting new people, and it's hard to believe that conditions on the track can be all that bad when he is such a happy and friendly creature.

But the conditions are that bad. The dogs endure hellish conditions, have a terrible injury rate, and after a couple of years on the tracks are too often left with significant health problems and a fully justified fear of people. Rescue groups spent years trying to convince the tracks to let them place the dogs in homes after their racing careers were over (often 1 or 2 years old, never more than 5 years old), and the tracks refused in fear that people would not tolerate the industry if they learned more about how the dogs are treated. Instead, a common "retirement" for a greyhound was a bullet to the head, and their ear (where their identification number is tattooed) cut off so the dog could more easily be dumped. The tracks put out propaganda for years that greyhounds are vicious and unsafe to keep as pets, when the reality is that the breed is incredibly gentle (as long as you're not a rabbit). Now the tracks put out propaganda that the racing greyhounds are well cared-for at the tracks. Don't believe it.

Banning greyhound racing was supposed to be on the ballot in 2006. The attorney general approved the specific wording in advance, the petition process was successfully completed by hundreds of people volunteering a huge amount of time and effort collecting more than 100,000 signatures over several months, and then the SJC decided the wording wasn't kosher. And rather than punishing the attorney general for his incompetence, or allowing the wording to be corrected, the SJC simply ignored over 100,000 voters who had thought the wording was just fine with them and killed the ballot question.

Now it's time to do this all over again for 2008. I don't know if it will succeed in shutting down the two local greyhound tracks, but maybe the process will lead to more people making room in their homes for a retired greyhound. If so, it will be worthwhile.