December 26 was the last day of greyhound racing in the state of Massachusetts. As you may recall, the voters in that state passed the Greyhound Protection Act in 2008 and the ban on the sport took effect January 1. Bill Finley wrote a fabulous article on ESPN.com about the takeaway for the sport of horse racing. As he puts is, "It is a cautionary tale for every other animal-related sport that doesn't do nearly enough to protect its competitors while racing and guarantee them safe, dignified retirements after their careers are over."
As we all know, the role of animals in our society has been changing and the issue of animal welfare has become a hot button. Witness the Michael Vick story. It was, as Finley points out, the animal cruelty issue that ultimately mobilized the public against dog racing.
In his opinion, it is a cautionary tale for horse racing, a sport that, as we all know, has a long way to go to take care of its own. The difference may be that for the most part, race horses are well taken care of, especially the ones that the public sees racing in the Triple Crown series. In my opinion, there never was anything remotely humane about greyhound racing--including the concept of having them chase a fake rabbit. You always knew it was all about the bettors, not about the dogs.
I would argue that the essential sport of horse racing looks, on the surface, less "cruel" in terms of what the horses are asked to do and that may have to do with the fact that humans also participate by riding them. As long as there is some level of human interaction with the animals who are racing, in this case by riding on their backs, I would argue that the face of the sport carries a less inhumane appearance.
But Finley's cautionary note about the similarities in public support for the two sports is worth considering: "The public is demanding more. This is still a sport where catastrophic injuries are far too high, where thousands of thoroughbreds go to slaughter every year and where the use of legal drugs is condoned. . . When the public turns away from your product, the only thing to do is fix the product."
As we all know, it is surely time to heed his advice.
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2 comments:
Good morning Ms. Feldman,
I'm on the Board of Directors of GREY2K USA, and I just wanted to thank you for this post about greyhound racing.
GREY2K USA is a national, non-profit organization dedicated to ending the cruelty of dog racing. We are a network of humane-minded citizens who work to pass stronger dog protection laws and close down existing greyhound racetracks. We also offer adoption referral information to help the thousands of dogs still racing.
In November 2008, GREY2K USA became the first group to successfully close down dog tracks through the citizens initiative process, passing Massachusetts Ballot Question 3.
Thank you so much for your wonderful blog!
Sincerely,
Jennifer Krebs
www.GREY2KUSA.org
Horse racing is anything but humane and an industry that has the funds that it does, should be exposed for the lack of retirement income from the purses,which the horses get NONE. The Thoroughbred industry feeds the slaughter industry in the steady stream of horses sent to killer buyer , brokers who haul them direct to Canada or Mexico for brutal slaughter. The horses merley are hauled out the stable gates , " to the farm " and never seen again. The tracks who have " no slaughter polices " are in name only, they do nothing. An industry with so much glory is really a cess pool of cruelty and slaughter .
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