Dog Racing Ban Saves Lives, Takes Livelihoods

The last greyhound race in New England was run in December, at Raynham Park in Massachusetts. This is great news for the dogs, who will no longer be subjected to the cruelty of track life. But the kennel owners, trainers, judges, vendors, maintenance workers and others who relied on the industry for income say it's ruining them.

Linda Jensen, president of the industry group, Protection of Working Animals and Handlers, estimates that about 1,300 people have lost their jobs in Massachusetts because of the dog racing ban. Kennel operator Carl Petricone said, "I'm done. At 57, am I going to start a new career? It feels like we're sitting behind bars for a crime we didn't commit. But we didn't do anything wrong!"

I believe that most of the people in these industries aren't inherently bad human beings, and many of them care about the animals on some level. There's ignorance and misguided intentions, but it's not about whether they, individually, did anything wrong; it's that the entire industry is wrong. Thousands of greyhounds live their lives in cramped, stacked cages at the tracks, fed substandard food, and only let out to relieve themselves, train and race. The races can bring broken limbs, paralysis, heat stroke, and other injuries, and sometimes even death.

When the dogs are injured or no longer competitive, the next lap of the race is in the hands of rescue organizations scrambling to save them before they're killed (and that doesn't always mean euthanasia). They're tools of a gambling industry — slot machines with legs — and there's no humane way around that.

Former trainer and kennel manager, Sandy O'Neil, said, "I don't hold grudges against people who wanted to save the dogs. It just seems like they couldn't care less about the people and distorted the facts." I'm not sure what facts she's referring to — the well-documented cruelty of the industry? But it's a common and unfair argument to say that animal advocacy happens at the expense of people. The mistreatment of animals inevitably has a negative effect on the people involved, and when the economy suffers, so do animals.

The Massacusetts ban was on the ballot in 2008, and the industry had more than a year to close down. That year doesn't go as far as it used to in job hunts, but the state's Department of Labor and Workforce Development tried to offer assistance. But there wasn't much of a crowd at their workshops.

According to the State Racing Commission, 2009 was the best year yet for greyhound adoptions, with 745 dogs finding new homes. As far as anti-racing advocates are concerned, those 745 happy endings are what makes the campaign to shut down the industry worthwhile. Not that anyone wants to see job loss, but as Christine Dorchak, president of Grey2K USA said, "The fact of the matter is that our economy should not be based on cruelty to dogs."

Photo credit: Rudolph.A.furtado