Update: Greyhound Racing at a Crossroads in Rhode Island

by Stephanie Ernst · 2009-06-26 14:49:00 UTC
Topics: show more

UPDATE: Disregard the petition alerts for now. I didn't realize the General Assembly was rushing to finish up a session--it voted late this afternoon or early this evening, and it indeed voted, 61-9, to force the track operators not only to continue racing greyhounds, but to race them even more. I'll update more later. A Providence Journal blog post indicates that after the Senate's final vote (following House-made amendments), the governor plans to veto. Let's hope so.

I wrote a couple days ago that a Rhode Island greyhound track operator had referred to the outdated, cruel practice as a "dying industry." As you may recall, the article from which I quoted explained that the operators of the financially struggling (and bankruptcy-filing) gambling facility were planning to end greyhound racing there. The Twin River facility is home to the only dog track in Rhode Island. Its closure would be the effective end of greyhound racing in this small state.

But now the Rhode Island state government is taking extaordinary steps to force the business to continue racing greyhounds. It's time for people who care about these dogs to speak up and keep that from happening.

The Grey2K team explains, "Current state law now mandates that the dog track hold 125 days of live racing each year, and it is up to lawmakers to repeal this requirement" in order for Twin River's current restructuring proposal to go through. But in the late hours last night, Rhode Island's WPRI reports, the RI House Finance Committee rushed through a bill that would obligate the track to not only meet the currently required number of racing days per year (125), but meet an increased number of racing days per year (200).

Remarkable, right? Legislators are pushing to force continued greyhound racing. The operators who want to end it aren't concerned for the dogs, of course; nor are most of the politicians who are in favor of ending it. Their reasons are financial. They know what is becoming increasingly obvious: greyhound racing is not financially profitable; it is dying out. But this is an excellent chance for those of us opposed to greyhound racing on moral grounds--because it's a cruel, inhumane practice--to step up and remind legislators that this isn't just about money. It's about living beings too.

[Petition information deleted. See update at top of post.]

Stephanie Ernst wrote the original Animal Rights blog at Change.org until December 2009. She can now be found at Animal Rights & AntiOppression.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Missouri Offering New Incentives to Get Kids Killing Too
NEXT STORY:
Super Bowl Countdown: 5 Actions in 5 Days to Protest Skechers' Dog Racing Ad

COMMENTS (3)

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.