greyhound abuse

[anacrucis]

a coworker of mine is circulating a petition on a proposal for a new law which would, among other things, ban greyhound racing in Massachusetts

Comments

[rumorofrain]

I don't have any evidence of whether or not track dogs get abused/neglected, but I am inclined to believe that they do simply because dog racing is very much about profit, and squeezing the most profit out of your dogs means giving them as little as possible and then killing them when they don't perform adequately

[rolypolypony]

I second all of this. Well said.

[anacrucis]

But when it's another creature's well-being at stake, their disregard of the rules is infuriating to me.

Really the personal liberty argument is the only one that was stuck in my head. But this - admittedly indirectly - clears that up. Gay marriage is a personal choice that affects only the two adults who consent to it. Abortion arguably affects another living person but the degree to which that is true is still up for debate (and there are at any rate complicated factors that make that issue far more complicated than this one).

But racing a dog has the potential to harm another creature who has no say in the matter, and it does seem that racers have had ample opportunities to show that they are willing and able to mitigate that potential, and have instead shown only a willingness to mitigate their exposure to negative public opinion.

I support people's liberty to bet on dogs if they are inclined to betting, but not if they have shown they cannot do so without harming the dogs.

[lietya]

I don't really have the time to research a) today (although if you've got some time to decide, you could consult a reference librarian, for whom it's their job), but my take on b) is that it's just possible a ban would accomplish what existing animal cruelty laws don't.

The reasoning being that enforcing the existing laws requires a fair amount of effort, money, and manpower - you have to keep (literally) policing the dogs/tracks and poking around looking for the shadowy parts of the sport. Whereas a ban is much simpler in terms of enforcement - get caught racing dogs, you go to jail. Given that dog racing is kind of harder to carry out in secret than cockfighting (not impossible, but it does require more room and a touch more equipment), it's likely that a ban would be fairly effective.

of course, with that said, if the abuses aren't widespread or common, that'd be kind of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

[lietya]

(er, and I meant to add that bans on cockfighting are fairly effective, so logic would suggest that a ban on something easier to catch than that would be even MORE effective.)

[samaphore]

Dog racing is bad, bad, bad. Those poor animals are run into the ground and then killed once their useful racing days are over. I can't think of a worse abuse of life. I feel the same way about horse racing. I mean, I'm a vegetarian, but at least food animals that are killed aren't wasted! Dog racing is inhumane, and secondarily, a foolish use of resources (the food to feed the dogs, the money wasted on gambling, the materials used to build the track, etc. etc.).

[anacrucis]

Well, yes, but I got as much just by googling PETA.

I keep hearing people *say* it's inhumane, but I am not seeing the primary sources that prove it. I respect your opinion, but I don't feel like it's sound citizenship to sign off on a legal petition based on that.

(I actually did a web search for some of the sources cited in the PETA article I read on the subject, but it looks like I'd need to go to a library to find them which is not something I'm able to do in the time frame here.)

[laobscuridad]

Ooooh, the vet school gives me access to Lexis/Nexis!

Exerpt from the Irish Times (this month):
Cocaine and Viagra are among the drugs used to enhance the racing performance of greyhounds, the D�il has been told

[anacrucis]

well, I appreciate all your research. This is exactly what I was looking for. As it is, i already signed the petition yesterday. I don't feel that "unnecessary" is reason enough to ban it, but "unnecessary + inhumane" is, if there is no alternative to solve the "inhumane" part of the equation. I would prefer to see a system where there is stronger enforcement and more transparency in how the animals are handled but, as lietya points out, there is probably not the political will to allocate the necessary resources for that, so banning is the best alternative to protect the dogs.

Sadly, I worry about what will happen to all those dogs when and if all the parks in mass are simultaneously shut down.

The good news (for dogs) though is that whether this law is passed or not, dog racing seems to be a dying sport.

[anacrucis]

It does seem like in horse racing the animals are treated with much more respect, but it also seems like they hurt themselves terribly and far too frequently. And what happens to an incredibly fast horse whose bone structure is so light that it breaks it's leg running? It's put out to stud, to pass it's genetic predisposition for weak bones to a future generation. This whole bred-to-break thing seems to me to be a huge problem.

[laobscuridad]

Greyhound injuries happen to - you just never hear about it. Plus, when a horse breaks a leg, it's generally hard to pin in on something as simple as a light bone structure. If they could do that, I'm sure those animals would not be bred. And if it's a bad break, and it's not a spectacular horse, they might euthanize instead.

[anacrucis]

oh yeah, i assume they're far more common than horse injuries.

And I know the less than spectacular horses are euthanized.

As for the cause of injuries - i was just going on things I've heard in the news. But I defer to your vetrinary wisdom :)