Mass. Residents—Vote Yes to Ban Dog Racing

Question 3 on the Massachusetts ballot next week calls for an end to the cruel "sport" of dog racing in that state—a phaseout by 2010. Here, Mary Martin, an animal advocate who shares her home with two "retired" greyhounds, presents the case for voting yes on Question 3 and giving these sweet, exploited dogs the lives they deserve, in loving homes rather than in cramped cages, lives impacted by humans' compassion and care rather than  neglect and mistreatment, lives full of joy and comfort rather than sorrow, boredom, and pain. If you're still unsure after reading this post, or if you know someone in Massachusetts who isn't convinced or who has been swayed by the opposition's campaign against the ballot question, please visit or send them to the Yes on Question 3 Web site and the Question 3 Facts Web site, the latter of which responds to false and misleading claims being circulated by the opposition. -S.Ernst

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My husband and I adopted two “retired” greyhounds, Violet and Charles, who were bred, trained to race on demand, and forced to live in a kennel for over 20 hours a day, probably muzzled. Violet was a champion racer who was “discarded” because (from what several veterinarians have told me) apparently she was injected with steroids that eventually shut down her pancreas. Now she has the distinction of being one of the few rare greyhounds afflicted with Type I diabetes. I inject her with insulin twice daily and test her blood sugar by pricking her lip before each injection (and sometimes more frequently). She went blind from cataracts (due to diabetes), and though we had her lenses surgically replaced, one of her retinas detached, and now she has sight in only one eye. She also has glaucoma.

Violet was hauled from Oregon to Florida to race, and she probably was in a kennel without food or water for the entire trip and probably didn’t get to stop to stretch her legs. She may have been in a crate with another dog, barely able to move (and certainly not able to stand).

Charles, on the other hand, was the fastest dog on the training farm and showed great promise. Puppies and dogs who don’t show such promise are killed. Unexpectedly, when Charles was sent to the gate, he refused to race. He wouldn’t budge. He was going to run when he wanted to run, but he wasn’t going to race for anyone. This is not a common occurrence at the track. After three attempts to make him run, he was “discarded.”

“Discarded” often means shot. Sometimes it means killed by lethal injection (they call that “euthanasia,” despite the reality that the dog is perfectly healthy). Sometimes discarded means sent to a research facility to be experimented on and then killed. The owner gets a tax deduction for his “charitable donation of property” in such cases. Sometimes discarded means an adoption group got the opportunity to save the dog and adopt her into a loving home. Thousands of dogs simply go missing each year and are not accounted for.

Greyhounds are like other dogs in that they want to love and be loved. They want to feel safe. They want shelter, food, water, and a cushy place to sleep because they have very little body fat, and the only thing separating their bones from the floor is skin thinner than your eyelid.

At the track, however, they aren’t safe. Air conditioning units have broken, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of dogs, illnesses are easily spread, abuse is not uncommon, and of course injury is frequent. Death occurs on the track either instantly or by “euthanasia” because owners have no financial incentive to provide life-saving, or even leg-saving, veterinary care.

Commercial dog racing is legal and operational in 11 states, with Florida (where I live) and its 16 tracks being by far the greatest offender. In Massachusetts there are currently two operational dog tracks, Wonderland Greyhound Park and Raynham Park. Here are some quick facts about the greyhounds at those tracks:
· Several have tested positive for cocaine.
· They are all fed “4D” meat (deemed unfit for human consumption and from dying, diseased, downed, or dead animals).
· More than 800 of them have been injured since 2002. Broken legs make up 80% of the injuries. (Again, this is just at two tracks in one state.)
· Nineteen dogs died of a mysterious illness in just one month in 2005.
Question 3 would phase out greyhound racing in Massachusetts by 2010 and is on the ballot thanks to GREY2KUSA and the Committee to Protect Dogs, which are both dedicated to ending greyhound racing in the United States. It is endorsed by a long and impressive list of individuals and organizations.

If Question 3 passes (Vote Yes!), about 500 people will need to find new jobs, and several thousand dogs (each track uses about 1,000 dogs) will need homes. With each track closing, a network of rescue groups and concerned citizens mobilizes to spread the dogs around so that the state where the tracks are closing doesn’t need to come up with 2,000 homes for dogs. Again, this would be a phase out, so all 2,000 dogs used by the two “parks” today won’t be available for homes on November 5 if Question 3 passes. As with the closing of any business, workers will need to find new jobs. But luckily, workers will know on November 5 if they need to start looking for another job or training for another job.

Because greyhound racing is a dying industry, tracks usually shut down from lack of business, and then the state bans racing. If Question 3 passes, this will be the first time tracks will shut down because the voters have decided they don’t want to race dogs in their state. Vote Yes on Question 3 and cast your vote for liberating man’s best friend from enslavement for “sport.”