Greyhound abuse

I Admit I Hate Certain Races…

Posted by stevepryor on June 20, 2013
Posted in: anti racing, Greyhound abuse, greyhound racing facts, greyhound rescue, life of a racing greyhound, Planet Greyhound, truth about greyhound racing, young greyhounds. Tagged: , , , , .

Those races are Greyhound Races!

At its very core, greyhound racing is controlled by gambling. It is big business, with total disregard for the dogs. However, the cruelty of this industry is being exposed more and more with each passing day. The majority of people attending these races are blind to what actually happens to these animals in their day to day life. Little do they know, or care, what kind of life these dogs lead. It is our job to inform them that the life of the racing Greyhound is one of misery, fear, mistreatment, and all too often, death at a young age. A few years back, the remains of approximately 3,000 Greyhounds from Florida tracks were discovered on the Alabama property of a track security guard who “took care” of unwanted dogs with a .22 rifle. Their horrible life began the day they were born, and ended the day they died. Some may say, you’re hashing up stuff from years ago…well, that may be true, but it still happened and it continues to happen, it is just that the people involved are being more careful about covering their tracks. It is believed that there are still, despite rescue groups best efforts, approximately 20,000 to 25,000 greyhounds destroyed each year.

The life of a racing greyhound is harsh as they are not considered as a living animal, but rather a commodity, a running machine. The truth about greyhound racing is that thousands of Greyhounds are produced each year, many more than are needed. Dogs that are considered as too slow to make it are killed. If they win they live to race another day. If they lose they stand a good chance to die. Very few dogs make it to 4 or 5 years old. Many suffer from heatstroke, heart attack, injuries, sickness, broken legs, parasitic infections, etc. At all too many tracks dogs suffer from constant neglect and isolation. Cramming them in crates for transport to the track, sometimes a hundred miles or more, many will die on the trip, suffering from
malnutrition, and dehydration. Any dog that slows down or becomes unprofitable stands a good chance of being killed. One kennel owner faced felony charges for selling over 1,000 such Greyhounds for “medical experimentation”.

 Greyhound breeders produce hundreds more animals than are needed. Any one of them that is lacking outstanding running ability stands a better than average chance of being killed. Remember, this is about money and gambling and a “non income producing” greyhound will not be tolerated. Few make it very far as racers, most ending up in a quick grave. The tracks in an effort to make more money have paid lobbyists to get legislatures to pass laws favoring gambling. Even if your state has banned Greyhound racing, it is likely that it has breeding kennels for supplying dogs to other states.

Each year thousands of young Greyhounds who do not display potential to make money are “disposed of.” Some are sent to be killed at Veterinary offices, animal shelters, research labs, or any place that will finish them off quickly. Every year thousands of Greyhound puppies meet death allegedly from “natural causes” when in reality they are destroyed on the puppy farms. Very few of these pups are ever delivered to rescue groups. Many end up in a dumpster.

Documented “disposal” methods include: euthanasia, mass euthanasia, gunshot, starvation, bludgeoning, donated for medical research, abandonment, sale to racing interest in third world countries, electrocution, hanging, and strangulation. In earlier years an ice pick shoved in the heart was a favorite method of disposal. Miami, at one time, used a decompression chamber to kill thousands.

Greyhound pups are bred by operators holding 500 or more dogs. The litter can be
1-13, with 7 being average. After being sent to training farms, traveling in cramped quarters, many dogs arrive at their final destination dead. Most are discarded after racing only a short time.  Many Greyhounds that did not show potential for profit during training are killed before even having a chance to race at a track.

The average greyhound racing kennel maintains around 60 to 80 dogs. Some “cheap” tracks often hold 200. An average track known as a “compound” with 15 kennels may house 1000 dogs. Living conditions at some tracks are disgustingly brutal, and an injury deemed to costly to treat can mean instant death.

Why doesn’t the Government do something about the situation? Because Greyhound racing is a State mandated business. The Federal Government has no control over it. State regulations many times prove to be a conspiracy of silence…the old, hear no evil speak no evil. Everyone knows what is going on but few are willing to do anything about it. Even though some of the above mentioned is starting to recede because of more people getting involved in rescue groups and finding homes for more dogs, unfortunately either knowingly or unknowingly, many rescue groups themselves perpetuate this cycle of abuse because their parent organizations are in part funded by the racing industry and therefore they (members) are given strict orders to not say anything negative about the industry. The industry uses the threat of not turning any dogs over to that group if they do.

Advertisement

Greyhound Racing – From Nobility To Slavery

Posted by stevepryor on November 24, 2012
Posted in: anti racing, Greyhound abuse, greyhound exploitation, Greyhound General Info, Greyhound Pics, Rescued/Retired Greyhounds. Tagged: , , , , . 1 Comment

The Difference Between Greyhound Racing’s
Propaganda and Reality is like:
NIGHT AND DAY


Racing Industry Promotional Claims..


1) Greyhound racing is a humane, fun and harmless sport.

2) Racing greyhounds are prized athletes that receive the best of care. We treat our greyhounds better than most people treat their pets.

3) Cases of abuse and killing of racing greyhounds are rare isolated incidents.

4) Critics of the dog racing industry are wacko animal rights extremists who are opposed to the use of animals for any purpose.

5) Humane Societies euthanize thousands of unwanted dogs.

6) We would not have to euthanize greyhounds if more people would adopt them.

7) Racing greyhounds would not run if they were not well cared for.

8) Greyhound racing is a highly regulated sport with high standards of animal care.
 

The Reality..


1) The business of greyhound racing is responsible for the death of thousands upon thousands of greyhounds every year.

2) Greyhound adoption organizations routinely receive racing dogs riddled with external and internal parasites, open sores and untreated broken bones. Many are also covered with scars.

3) Over the last two decades, hundreds of cases of abuse have been documented including greyhounds that were shot, starved, electrocuted and sold for research. Industry insiders report that this is only the tip of the iceberg.

4) This statement is merely a public relations ploy designed to marginalize industry critics. The killing and abuse of greyhounds is a mainstream issue that has been taken to heart by the American public. Opposition to industry practices has been publicly stated in newspaper editorials, by government officials and mainstream animal welfare organizations.

5) Humane Societies do not breed dogs; make money off of them; kill them. Then repeat the cycle.

6) It is not the responsibility of private charities like adoption organizations or the American public to white wash the image of the dog racing industry.

7) Running is instinctual for greyhounds. In fact, it is not uncommon for a greyhound to finish a race in spite of having suffered a serious injury.

8) In most states, dog racing regulations are essentially concerned with gambling rules; breeding and training farm operations are virtually unregulated.

Where Do All Those Puppies Go..

Many greyhound puppies and youngsters are judged to be of inferior racing quality at birth or during the farm training process. Many owners elect not to continue investing in dogs that demonstrate little potential of making money; the vast majority of those dogs are destroyed on the farm before they ever start a racing career. In recent years the yearly disappearance of thousands of puppies is explained away by the industry spokesperson as death from “natural causes”. However, this same spokesperson admitted in an interview that puppies were, in fact, destroyed on the farms. Industry insiders confirm that large numbers of pups are destroyed. Young greyhounds that do show promise are individually registered and named before going to a track at about 18 months.

In the tenth century, King Howel of Wales declared that the penalty for killing a greyhound was the same as that of killing a person, death. In the days of the Egyptians, greyhounds were valued by the pharaohs for their grace, beauty and mild temperament. But in the 21st century, greyhounds in the racing world are prized for only one thing…speed. Every year thousands of greyhounds are killed in various inhumane ways simply because they are not fast enough. 

It’s an industry that exists solely for the entertainment of humans at the cost of animal lives. 

Because greyhound racing has little to do with dogs and everything to do with money, scant regard is given to the humane treatment of the greyhounds. This is an industry that places profits above the health and welfare of greyhounds, how else would you explain the culling of unwanted dogs, a general disregard toward animal injury, and the inhumane living conditions that the majority of the dogs endure?

Struggling to Survive….

Greyhounds are at a disadvantage even before they are born. Tens of thousands of greyhounds are bred annually, many more than are needed to race, in an attempt to create the fastest dogs. The greyhounds are then “weeded out “killed” if they are at any time determined unable to become racetrack stars.

“From the time they are born, they are judged for their racing ability,” says Laura Bevan, director of the Southeast Regional Office of The HSUS. “As puppies they may be killed, or culled, if they don’t have potential to be good racers. After that, any injury or slow down of speed can mean death. The dogs are a commercial product, and once it is determined that they don’t have value as a racer at a track, their days are numbered.”

Throughout their racing career, the dogs routinely endure inhumane conditions and have little human contact. Many greyhound farms are barely getting by financially, so the dogs are kept caged most of the time and fed low quality foods. Each dog is a major expense, which is why so many are killed in various, inhumane, ways when they are deemed unfit to race.

 Please consider adopting a greyhound. So many are waiting for someone like you and me to save their lives. And if adoption is not an option for you right now, they are always in need of people who are willing to foster. In fact, there are many ways you can help, so please do. Join the fight to stop  the racing and subsequent killing of these precious greyhounds. 

Lakeside Veterinary Hospital – Carbondale, Il – Neglect of Greyhounds

Posted by stevepryor on October 27, 2012
Posted in: Greyhound abuse, Greyhound Pics, Greyhounds Health, Pet Health, pet neglect. Tagged: , , , , . 2 Comments

As some of you may have heard, we boarded our two greyhound boys Vladimir and Vitali on the 19th and 20th of October while we went out of town to St. Louis Mo. for a NLCS playoff game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants. The game was on Friday night, so we dropped the boys off at their vets to stay Friday and Saturday night. We were told there would be someone there between 07:00 AM and 08:00 AM Sunday so we could pick them up, I later received a voice mail on my cell phone from a lady named Megan saying we had to pick them up between 07:30 AM and 08:00 AM.

We arrived at the vet to pick them up Sunday morning at approx 07:50 AM and the person there let us in the back door, the first thing I noticed when walking into the room was both of their dog beds lying on the floor in a common area. While the person there went to get their leashes, I went into one of the areas where I heard dogs barking and noticed the boys standing in an enclosure that was a bare, wet concrete floor. As the lighting was not all that great I could not make out much more than that or see the condition they were in, even as they were led into the common area it was hard to notice as all they wanted to do was get outside. I took the leashes and took them outside and they both had gotten no more than a few feet out the door when they started to urinate.

Once outside in the sunlight we could see their coats were stained yellow on their bellies, back, sides, legs and their tails looked like they had soaked in urine, there were also traces of feces on their bellies and feet, they also had what appeared to be “urine burns” on their feet and urine stained, raw looking abrasions of the elbows. The pictures here do not convey how terrible this looked in person, but you should be able to get the idea.

We were told later that the person in charge of them those two nights said she had taken them out three times Saturday and they were fine, that they apparently got in the condition they were in when we picked them up from the last time she had them out Saturday until we picked them up at ten minutes till eight Sunday morning. We told them that was not at all believable and they told us, we believe our employee.

My personal opinion is that they were totally neglected those two days, they were not taken out at all.  That they were left to urinate on themselves and lie in it when they were so tired they could not stand up anymore. I believe they were traumatized by this experience to the point where the first few days we had them home, they wanted no part of being around my truck, especially if I opened the door…they would pull away, maybe they thought I might be taking them back?  Before this incident they always got excited when we went toward the truck and if the door opened, they wanted in. Hopefully, they will get back to that soon.

We’ve been using a “Lincocin” topical on their elbows since we’ve had them home along with an antibiotic cream and the elbows are starting to look again like they did before we left them with the people who were supposed to be caring for them.

We provided beds for each of our boys, but as stated earlier in this post, they were never given to them to lie on, the beds were simply taken to the back and tossed on the floor and stayed there until we picked them up. This ordeal has upset my wife and I to no end, to think that someone you trust with your pets health and well being can let someone in their employ treat animals in this way is beyond reprehensible and to make matters worse, they tried to blame us for their condition by saying we should have paid them to have them bathed before we picked them up. To me that is such an asinine statement, I’m not going to even comment any further on it.

I am posting some photos taken shortly before their stay, followed by photos we took immediately after picking them up. This is neglect, pure and simple and I would not want to see this happen to anyone else’s pets…but this was especially harmful to greyhounds who are so clean by nature and have such thin skin.

Some pics before….

Some pics after their stay at the vets….

Greyhound Gotcha Day!

Posted by stevepryor on August 2, 2012
Posted in: Dog Adoptions, Greyhound abuse, greyhound exploitation, greyhound life, Rescued/Retired Greyhounds. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Today marks one year we have had Vladimir & Vitali as members of our family. They are wonderful boys and have brought so much joy into our lives and so much attention. Walking down the street with a greyhound is like walking with a celebrity, I’m serious, ask other greyhound owners, people are naturally drawn to them and most have never actually seen one close up. They are some truly amazing creatures, as gentle and loving as they are fast. They have made such a huge impact on our lives and helped further open our eyes to all of the greed and callousness of the industry they were born into.

We also became aware of the differences involving the groups who act as lifelines for these gentle creatures after they are no longer of use to the racing industry. Many of these groups say the are “neutral” when in fact, that’s just a word thrown out there to try to pacify both sides, most “neutral” groups are funded in part by the racing industry. In fact, if you’re looking at the big picture, what good is it to be “neutral”, what are you accomplishing, except helping to prolong the inevitable demise of this cruel, barbaric spectacle. How can you be “in the middle”, you either are for something or against it. The main focus of any greyhound rescue organization should be to put themselves out of business by getting racing banned in every state (and worldwide). If you’re not working toward that end, you are part of the problem (not the solution) as you are prolonging the killing and injuries and suffering of these magnificent animals. Even if your rescue adopts out more dogs than most, you are helping to keep the industry alive if you are going along with the program and keeping your mouth shut, thereby perpetuating the further breeding and culling of pups and other dogs deemed unfit for racing and putting countless others in harms way.