The Florida Supreme Court has given the green light to a proposed Florida State constitutional amendment, on the ballot for this November, that would ban betting on live greyhound racing. The Florida Supreme Court opinion reverses a lower-court judge. Now, if at least 60 percent of voters approve, the 11 live dog racing facilities in Florida will have stop running dogs, though they may continue to operate as slot machine and off-track betting facilities as well as bars.
The history of Greyhound racing in the US is pretty sordid, with vast numbers of dogs being bred in commercial breeding facilities and scores of thousands of dogs summarily shot and buried in fields when they failed to win or place in their first six races.
If the 11 tracks in Florida are forced to close, look for a small surge in rescue greyhounds available for adoption.
Related Links:
** 100 Years of Electric Rabbits
** Guess Who Wants to End Greyhound Racing?
** Pretenders in the World of Hunting Dogs
** When Running Dogs Were a Business
** American Jack Rabbit History
** The Things Unseen
3 comments:
I'm sure there are some horrors at the dog tracks, but if it's anything like the race horse industry (at which I have years of experience and saw the good, the bad & the ugly) - the worst of the worst is what you will see in print, some true, some exaggerated. What IS true is that these NGA dogs are greyhounds bred to do the job that they were designed to do. Drop racing out of the breeding picture and let the AKC "Fanciers" breed them like they think the dog should look to win a ribbon and it won't be long before the mighty greyhound joins your photo essays on how AKC F**ked up yet another breed to be a useless lead & feed ornament.
As a general rule, I am against changing state constitutions like this, and I am also against referendums on wildlife and animal management; wrong tool where expert opinion is needed. In this case, some of the Florida track owners have lobbying for this as a way to get rid of the dogs (which produce little money) while keeping the more lucrative gambling operations in place.
Unknown: well said, too right-
there must be another way other than 'throwing out the baby with the bathwater'. i don't know why animal legislation always gets it wrong, blames the wrong party or issue, comes up with the wrong solution...
these dogs are one of the few breeds still doing something like what they were bred for originally....i predict the end of greyhounds as we know them. :(
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