News

A DOG'S LIFE: RACE OR DIE

RETIRED GREYHOUNDS WOULD MAKE
GOOD PETS, BUT ADOPTIONS LAG
by TROY MOON

Pensacola (FL) News Journal 12/10/96

About 28,000 racing greyhounds are "put down" each year across the United States, and most of them are healthy dogs that would have made good pets. The kennel owners say they don't like it. The vets who euthanize the dogs don't like it. The animal activists hate it. So why does it happen? The dogs are done in by dollars. Old dogs that no longer can race and win and puppies that show no promise are financial liabilities for the kennel owners. It's the business - the greyhound racing business.

Ed Bates is one of 11 kennel owners at the Pensacola Greyhound Track. Like most kennel owners,he knows his dogs by name, and he knows that some of them won't be alive much longer. "Some are going to be going to heaven real soon," Mr. Bates, 60, said recently as he looked at his sleek,elegant dogs. The greyhounds were enjoying one of their three daily outdoor escapes from the 3-by-4-foot steel cages that confine them at least 20 hours a day. "When dogs can't run no more, sometimes you got to put them down," he said.

CARTED TO THE DUMP

The bodies of 10 to 15 racing greyhound from the Pensacola greyhound track go into the land fill every week. Each one is crammed into a black trash bag, around which flies swarm. "It bothers me to put a dog down," Mr. Bates said, "but I'm paying $500 a week just for food, and some of them aren't making me a dime. I wish we could get more of them adopted out, I really do. Because no one likes putting a dog down."

Dr. Andy Hillman is the vet who puts down most of the racing greyhounds at the Pensacola track. He uses a barbiturate injection that is considered the most humane way of animal disposal. The cost: $12, much less than the $25 to $35 fee generally charged for euthanizing pets.

SOMEONE'S GOT TO DO IT

"I don't want people to think I'm doing this for the money," he said. "If I stopped doing this with the greyhounds, I wouldn't starve at all, believe me." He said about 75 percent of the greyhounds he euthanizes are healthy animals that would make great pets. The ones the owners and trainers kill off are mostly non-competitive puppies out of training or older dogs that are not generating money, he said. "I don't like doing it, but it's going to be done, so my goal is to try to do it as humanely and kindly as possible."

While 28,000 greyhounds are put to death each year, only 15,000 are adopted, according to the Greyhound Protection League, based in Connecticut. "I don't know why anyone would want to be in this (racing) business," said Melani Nardone, spokeswoman for the league. "There's not a whole lot of money in it, and it's filled with death. I can't understand how some of these people can say they love these animals, and then with the next breath admit they're going to put them down because they
have other dogs to care for."

BUSINESS SLOW

Only 17 states allow greyhound racing. Two of those, Nevada and South Dakota, don't have greyhound tracks. There are 49 tracks in the remaining 15 states. Florida has the most with 17 tracks; Colorado is second with five. Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana are not among the states that allow greyhound racing.

Six tracks nationwide have closed since 1995. The two tracks that have opened since 1995 have declared bankruptcy, and one has closed. Ms. Nardone and many who work with greyhounds say the decrease is largely attributed to a rise in casino gambling across the United States, which diverts money from greyhound tracks.