Greyhounds: Citizen readers speak out
by Tucson Citizen on May. 30, 2008, under Opinion
Treatment of greyhounds is "inhumane," an animal rights activist contends.
No way to treat a dog
So greyhounds are locked in cages virtually all day and night, fed diseased meat, injected with steroids, and the track thinks it’s bad for the dogs to do otherwise?
It doesn’t sound like a “park” to me! On www.tucsondogprotection.com, you’ll see a lot more than a few veterinarians have endorsed the Dog Protection Act. Try more than 70!
The track has long claimed poverty, but it takes in more than $5 million a year. It’s poverty is of the heart and of the imagination.
They could afford to buy healthy dog food.
They could put in shade trees, tarps and pools, and they could start a volunteer group to walk the dogs. I’m sure the Humane Society would have all kinds of ideas.
JAMES MASSEY
Give manager same treatment
Thank you to Susan Via for moving forward on the Tucson Dog Protection Act.
The way these dogs are treated is completely inhumane and needs to end.
Caging a dog for 18 hours is abusive.
These dogs are bred, caged and mistreated only for the sake of profit.
I wonder what the Tucson Greyhound Park manager would do if he were forced to eat tainted meat and stay in a cage hour after hour.
I applaud all of those individuals who are speaking for those who can’t.
KAREN POMROY
Equine Voices Rescue and Sanctuary
Green Valley
Barking up the wrong tree
These people who claim to know the breed truly don’t know what they are talking about. The statement that these dogs like to spend 18 hours in a kennel is absurd.
I know two families with greyhound rescue dogs, and they can’t even get their dogs into a kennel.
One dog won’t even sit; it will only lay down. It appears to have been hit, perhaps with a cattle prod, to prevent it from sitting. Pretty sad if you ask me.
I hope the track closes down. It is just a moneymaking business like dogfighting with no regard for the animals’ welfare.
All people involved in animal cruelty will have to answer to their maker come judgment day; then and only then with these poor creatures get justice.
JEAN STERLING
Lame claims are Taylor-made
Re: the May 27 article “Group after better care of dogs in S. Tucson”:
A big thank you to Susan Via and the Tucson Dog Protection group for their initiative – and to the Tucson Citizen’s Ryn Gargulinski for telling this story.
Humane people cannot make an argument that is OK to subject any dog, including greyhounds, to this abuse.
I can’t believe Taylor can say that inhumane treatment isn’t harmful to the greyhounds because they are “couch potatoes.”
How come 40-plus veterinarians have signed up to support the measure?
Does Taylor know something about “the breed” that they don’t?
JERRY TUCKER
