A melancholy lingers around Tucson Greyhound Park, the residual from fans who abandoned this track in droves, lured away by tribal casinos or repelled by dog racing’s increasingly seedy reputation.
Indeed, the entire industry is a mere shadow of its post-World War II glory days, with only 22 tracks nationwide, down from 49 tracks in the 1990s. And of the 15 states hosting dog races a decade ago, Arizona is among only seven that remain.
But even in its twilight, Tucson’s track still raises a ruckus. Much of this turmoil dates from a 2008 ordinance passed by voters in the city of South Tucson, where the track is located. Among other things, the law prohibits injecting female dogs with anabolic steroids, which prevent them from going into heat. It also bans giving any dogs raw “4D” meat, so called because it comes from livestock that’s “dead, dying, diseased or down.” The meat is customarily fed uncooked to racing greyhounds across the country.
Ever since those laws were enacted, the track has relentlessly mocked them. It installed Crock-Pots in the kennels, for instance, claiming they were being used to cook the raw meat—an assertion even the meat’s producer, Victory Greyhound Feed of La Motte, Iowa, called far-fetched. “Nobody cooks it,” says Victory owner Jason Haynes. “It would be foolishness.”
To dodge the steroid ban, dogs were injected in a parking lot just beyond the South Tucson city limits. But that parking lot was within the city of Tucson, prompting Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik to have the injections banned within metro Tucson as well. Pima County soon followed.
These mounting prohibitions might lead observers to conclude that dog doping has ended at Tucson Greyhound Park. Yet a July 11 inspection of its kennels found that not a single female dog—out of 202 checked—was currently in heat.
Among the incredulous is Susan Via, a retired federal prosecutor who spearheaded the South Tucson ordinance. “It must be some form of magic,” she says, sarcastically.
Another skeptic is Jan Lesher, onetime chief of staff for operations with U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and now a deputy Pima County administrator. Among Lesher’s duties is overseeing the Pima Animal Care Center, which handles animal issues—including Greyhound Park—for South Tucson. Based on the July inspection, she ordered a second surprise inspection on Aug. 5. The results were the same.
Here’s where things get hinky: The Arizona Department of Racing demands to be notified of any pending PACC inspections at Greyhound Park and there have been suspicions that state officials might be tipping the track off. Adding to this is the department’s inherent conflict of interest, given that its own budget consists of racing proceeds. If that weren’t weird enough, PACC must also rely on drug-testing results from the Department of Racing—which does not prohibit anabolic steroids.
To suggest there’s a wee trust deficit here would be charitable.
“I’m not calling anybody liars, and I don’t know anything about dogs,” Lesher says. “But I just wonder why two times in a row, every female that we investigated was not in heat. To me, that’s just counterintuitive.”
Meanwhile, PACC’s very presence at the track apparently rankles Racing Department Director Bill Walsh. This tension was noted in an Aug. 1 letter from Lesher to her boss, Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry. In it, she wrote that “the Authority of PACC to regulate or monitor operations at TGP is regularly challenged by the State …”
In a past interview with the Weekly, Director Walsh asserted that only his inspectors are legally mandated to monitor Greyhound Park, and they don’t enforce the ban on anabolic steroids or 4D meat. “I don’t want to get involved in this situation, because it’s between the racetrack and the local authorities,” he told the Weekly. “But it appears that local authorities want to extend their authority on to the racetrack.”
Instead, he defended the injections. “The (track) veterinarian treats these dogs once a month with really low doses, just to allow them to settle down and not go in season while the racing is going on. Find a report that shows that this does any type of damage to dogs at the levels at which they give them. I’ll bet you can’t, because I don’t think there has ever been a report on this.”
But scores of veterinarians who signed a petition supporting the 2008 South Tucson law apparently disagreed. As did Dr. Karter Neal, former medical director for the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, who told a TV host that the steroids can result in liver swelling, hepatitis and immune system compromises.
However, with Lesher now cranking up the pressure—and even questioning the veracity of his department’s drug testing—Walsh has suddenly become a bit more conciliatory. He’s even pledged to squeal on kennel owners caught doping their dogs with the steroids. “They’re required by law to follow all the laws and we can go after them if we have to,” he explained in a recent interview. “It’s that simple.”
Amid this shell game linger questions about Tucson Greyhound Park’s very survival. Of course, it does still enjoy a sweetheart deal, courtesy of the citizens of Arizona. Along with other tracks, it has received an almost-free tax ride since 1994, as a hedge against competition from Indian gaming. Under this law, tracks can make special deductions for capital improvements and enjoy a “hardship tax credit,” which often allows them to avoid paying any taxes at all.
Still, eyebrows were raised July 3, when combative track manager Tom Taylor was fired by the track’s owners, Florida businessmen Joseph Zappala and Robert Consolo Jr.
Filling Taylor’s position is Tony Fasulo, who arrives toting his own questionable credentials. It so happens that Fasulo was the track’s CEO in 2005, when it released 150 greyhounds to Colorado-based dog transporter Richard Favreau. Nearly all of those dogs later disappeared.
According to records, Fasulo knew beforehand that Favreau’s transport license had already been suspended by Colorado racing officials, after he’d been caught selling dogs for research without permission from their owners.
When we called Fasulo to ask about the Favreau scandal, he quickly hung up. We then called track operations manager John C. Scott, who’s best known as a longtime local radio host. Scott responded to our questions with a bizarre, expletive-riddled tirade.
In the end, Scott blamed Greyhound Park’s plight on biased media coverage. But others tend to blame the park’s problems on the park itself. Among them is Kozachik, who isn’t encouraged by Fasulo’s arrival. “They’re not bringing in anyone who’s going to change the culture of the track,” Kozachik says, “or take any better care of the animals than they have in the past.”
This article appears in Aug 22-28, 2013.
It’s a disgrace to our community that these notorious dog abusers are still allowed to operate here.
There is absolutely NOTHING in AZ state law that prohibits a local municipality from requiring more stringent animal welfare requirements than state law. For example, Pima County bans tie-outs of dogs, yet state law does not. Pima County absolutely has the legal authority to enforce kennel licensing laws and laws against the administration of anabolic steroids to female dogs to prevent estrus at TGP, and there is nothing in state law that requires them to notify the Department of Racing before an inspection or other enforcement activities. Director Walsh apparently knows more about pharmacology and veterinary medicine than the 90 veterinarians who supported the ban on steroids. Even the drug manufacturers of these controlled substances warn users against chronic administration of them to females and say they are only for occasional use. The deliberate flouting of the law by TGP is aided and abetted by Director Walsh, the Department of Racing, and the City of South Tucson. TGP is simply a disgrace.
Arizona Department of Racing Director: Instead, he defended the injections. “The (track) veterinarian treats these dogs once a month with really low doses, just to allow them to settle down and not go in season while the racing is going on.
(Not really. Confess that the real reason is if they are in season, they cannot race, and if they cannot race, they cannot make any money.)
So, is Bill Walsh saying that now the dogs ARE being treated with steroids even though South Tucson previously said take it off the premises and Pima County banned it entirely?
If this is so, what’s the fine for treating dogs with steroids when there’s an ordinance, Pima County?
Of course, Bill Walsh, Arizona Department of Racing director, will defend Tucson Greyhound Park. After all, he’s a regulator and we all know how these agencies regulate — it’s like OJ policing himself. Also now the Arizona Department of Racing is not supported by your tax dollars (the General Fund) and must provide for itself so why do they want to harm/kill off one of their own?
Tucson Greyhound Park continues to do as it’s always done without transparency and accountability.
Thank you Tim Vanderpool for continuing to tell the story of state sanctioned dog abuse as well as since 1994 has never paid taxes on their millions and millions of dollars earned on live dog racing or simulcast. (They do pay property taxes, licensing, food & beverage tax.)
Everyone reading this should be contacting their AZ state legislators (even the ones who claim to be animal advocates) and ask them how/why this cruel charade is allowed to persist. TGP is a black mark on South Tucson and the City of Tucson (because it’s called Tucson Greyhound Park, doesn’t matter what city it’s in) and Pima County.
I used to own a pure bred Blue Tic hound. I did not want to have her fixed in case somewhere down the road I wanted to breed her. I’m not sure if the shots the Vet gave her were steroids or not to keep her from going into heat, but, I do know that later when I was ready, I was able to breed her without the fear that it would be some unknown dog from down the street that jumped my fence just to get my do get my dog pregnant. Not all, but most people support birth control in humans, especially young girls that will ruin their lives if they get pregnant at an early age. Why is it so wrong for the trainers to do the same for their dogs?
Not much has changed since your story ‘Bad Track Record’ back in October, so I’ll copy/paste the same comment I made then:
People here fail to realize that the ONLY reason Tucson Greyhound Park continues to exist is due to the money it makes from its OTB operations. It has a monopoly on horse/dog racing wagering here. Take away that monopoly and TGP would likely fold in a matter of months.
In 2007 the state passed a law that made it a felony to gamble online, including betting on horse racing. When that law was passed any Arizona resident with an account with TVG, Xpressbet, Twin Spires, etc. had their accounts closed and received a check for their balance. I had two such accounts closed, leaving me with one option to bet on horse racing – driving across town to one of TGP’s crappy OTBs. So the state pretty much killed a hobby I had enjoyed for years as it simply is not desirable or practical to try to follow racing and wager regularly when you have to drive 15-20 minutes to place a bet in a dingy environment. I now only bet a few times a year, on the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup races at a local OTB. Other than that, the only betting I do is at the races at Rillito.
So if local politicians truly want to see an end to the disgrace that is Tucson Greyhound Park they should lobby state legislators to repeal the inane, intrusive law that prohibits its residents from betting online. Of course this will never happen as long as the disengaged electorate here continues to elect people to state government who feel it’s their job to tell you how to live your life.
Hard to make a great point after that post. Well done!!! And while not a resident of AZ, I’m offended by TGP’s flaunting of laws, thumbing their noses and the odd relationship with ADOR. This really is a stain on the state. What are the welfare laws and are they enforced? TGP is acting as if it has a “free pass”. Perhaps time to cut the umbilical cord? Seems the money could have great use elsewhere.
This track nothing to enhance the quality of life of the residents of South Tucson. It owners and employees reportedly have difficulty following local laws. Dogs apparently disappear into the night after less than human treatment. This is simply not okay.
This track does nothing to enhance the quality of life for the residents of South Tucson. It has a confirmed record of animal abuse. And we are expected to believe not one regulating agency or elected official can take action
Hosearn, the hormones are not just used to keep bitches out of heat, they are also used as performance-enhancing drugs. There can be adverse effects such as ovarian cysts. Also, humans can choose whether or not to use birth control, but these dogs have no say. To use hormones so intensively on an animal throughout its life is bound to have terrible repercussions for that animal.
Horse and dog racing are barbaric “sports” that mistreat animals so that people can be “entertained” and money can be made. Shut the whole damn thing down, give the greyhounds to a reputable greyhound rescue who will find them good homes and the dogs can finally live the rest of their lives with humans that love and appreciate them.
I lived in Tucson in the late 80’s and early 90’s and even then, 2 decades ago, greyhound dog racing was a seedy industry and animal advocates were figuring this out. This is a dark side of Tucson and the citizens of AZ need to outlaw this horrendous and cruel exploitation of dogs.
Gee, none of the bitches ever seem to come into heat? Ah common TGP, we aren’t stupid. Too bad Pima country isn’t willing to shell out a few bucks and do a few blood tests. That would answer whether or not they are on steroids.
It will be interesting to see if the new director is going to control if a dog goes to a rescue group or not because he personally doesn’t like whoever’s running it.