Throughout this whole Michael Vick dog-fighting fiasco, I have been thinking about the similarities to greyhound racing. Here is an interesting opinion in the Boston Globe that says it far better than I ever could.

Like Arizona, Massachusetts is one of the 14 states where greyhound racing is still legal.

This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2007.

5 replies on “Greyhound Racing and Dog Fighting”

  1. Other than the fact that greyhounds don’t compete by attacking one another, the similarities are amazing. How dog racing stays afloat astounds me. The local track is a grave yard. When I was a kid, back in the ’70s, I went with my family there a few times and it was packed. There was a restaurant up stairs and waitresses would take your bets like being at a Keno parlor. There was even another track out in Amado. I met a friend at the South Tucson track recently and its creepy. There must be 3 dozen betting windows, but only about 4 or 5 were staffed. The smell was a combination of smoke, beer, and lord knows what else. There were maybe a 100 people there total. And they still charge a cover! Its days have to be numbered.

  3. The Boston Globe article about Michael Vick and greyhound racing says it all so well! I think many of us have seen the similarity between breeding/abusing/killing pit bulls and greyhounds for quite a while. Thank you for bringing it to the attention of still more people. Maybe we’ll stop this travesty, I should say these travesties, yet!

  4. Slim,
    I didn’t understand your comment. Please explain further…

    Retrorv,
    When walking my greyhound, I met a new neighbor who moved to my block. He told me that he used to work at Tucson Greyhound Park. He said that’s what kids who grew up in South Tucson did. He said he worked there 50 years ago and saw some images that he will never forget. He said when his buddies were old enough to gamble they went to the track but after working there, he never could.

    In the past month or so two tracks have closed in Florida — one in Melbourne and one in Tampa. That leaves the adoption groups scrambling to find homes for 700 dogs. Florida is already saturated in retired racing greyhounds as there are more than a dozen tracks.

    The National Greyhound Association will try to have you believe that these dogs will all find homes but that is the biggest BS. I even saw some propaganda recently that said with all the track closings adoption groups will have a shortage of dogs for adoption. I hope I live to see that day.

    Many of these dogs will go back to their owners who will euthanize them (who needs another mouth to feed?); yet the NGA refers to the dogs as going back to the “farm”. Bucolic, it’s not!

  5. A lot of money goes into the track via Off Track Betting. If there is a bar near you that participates, call them and tell them you will boycott them as well as encourage others not to go there.

    I wish this state would leave the Dark Ages and outlaw this travesty called a sport.

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