Dog racing – no way to treat a nice animal

Yesterday – February 20, 2013, Tucson experienced an apocalypse of sorts on the weather front. This time the weather reporting hype came true. The day started cold then got colder in a very short period of time. Sleet turned to snow and soon entire cars in parking lots in Midtown were covered in snow. Snow hit the ground sticking, slushy, or ponding.

Blizzard!  And not just the Dairy Queen kind. And then it stopped and hours later it started back up again all over town.

Around 5:30 p.m. Tucson Tails called Tucson Greyhound Park and of course, it’s after business hours. Press 5 for the mutuels department (they take your bets) so a live person always answers the phone. I asked the perky voice if dogs were still going to be racing. She said yes. She paused. She said, “the state said it was fine to race.”

Aha! At first I thought she meant the Arizona Department of Racing in Phoenix who were sitting in their sterile cubicles said it was fine to race but in afterthought, I realized there are state employees at the track like the stewards and other personnel. That makes it a worse judgment call as they are from Tucson and had seen the horrible weather all day long.

Accenture Match Play golf in Dove Mountain cancelled because of the weather. Okay, so  rich pampered golfers and their followers don’t want to walk around in the snow. Then it was pointed out to me that the Tucson Rodeo also cancelled their schedule on the south side so I guess rough and tumble cowboys don’t want to buck around in the snow and neither do the people who paid the price to watch them.

However, the greyhounds still race; they don’t have a choice in the matter. It’s not like these greyhounds know what snow is and have ever raced in it before (much like many Tucson drivers). It doesn’t matter that it was a blustery 32 degrees. Somebody somewhere and probably not in South Tucson wanted to make a two dollar bet on these hounds so the dogs must race.

A Facebook friend called the dog track and was told that the storm sort of missed TGP. Yeah, right. There’s some imaginary magnetic DOME over 4th Avenue @ 36th Street and the track surface was dry as pie.

You might say your dog likes running in the snow – sure, why not? Running for pleasure on a fluffy blanket of snow is one thing but racing with seven other dogs around a tight oval is quite another.

One day out of the year or decade with extraordinary weather conditions where flights to Tucson were diverted to Phoenix and people were told to stay off the roads if they didn’t have to be on them – and still the dogs must race.

Obviously it was a bad decision to do so because races 6, 10, 11, 12, and 13 were cancelled.  Yes, animal lovers of Tucson and beyond – they still had planned on 13 races with 8 dogs per race.  Disgusting.

(Billboard is courtesy of friends of the greyhounds in Oracle, Arizona)

R.I.P. Atomic Charm

Update: I did get a response from Director Bill Walsh today. See end of blog post.

On January 17, I faxed a public records request to Arizona Department of Racing regarding a racing greyhound who was found dead in her cage at Tucson Greyhound Park in mid December.

Tucson Tails found out about the incident from an inside source.

After faxing the public records request asking for information about the dead greyhound –Atomic Charm — and getting nothing, I contacted Mr. Bill Walsh, Director, Arizona Department of Racing. I had requested “all records & reports, including autopsy records/reports, necropsy reports/records, investigative records/reports regarding the death of ATOMIC CHARM, Greyhound at TGP – December 2012.”

Here is my email correspondence with Mr. Walsh on Jan. 23:
to Bill, bcc: karyn

Mr. Walsh

On Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, I faxed in a public record request as to the death report or any report for a TGP greyhound – Atomic Charm – who was found dead inside a TGP kennel in mid December.

To date, a week later, I have not heard anything from Cassie or your office as to the cost for any reports.

Please advise

1) if you received the faxed request – according to my fax machine the request was sent
2) when I might expect the documents that I asked for
3) the cost

Thank you

Here is Director Walsh’s response:

Bill Walsh
Jan 24 (5 days ago)

to Cassie, me

Ms. Zoldan,

I am unaware of both your request and of any report on this matter.  But I was in Tucson last Friday and then there was a three day holiday weekend following which both Cassie and I have been slowed down by illness.

We will look into it today and if such a report exists and the Department possesses it,  it will be on its way expeditiously.

Bill Walsh
Director

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

———————-

Atomic Charm would’ve turned 3 years old on January 26, 2013 if she lived that long. She ran 102 races. According to Greyhound-Data, she last last raced December 5, 2012 and her last win was November 12, 2012. Does Atomic Charm’s owner know that she is dead? Does he care?

——————-

To date, I have not heard from Mr. Walsh again or received any documents. I don’t want his stinking excuses either.

A TGP kennel operator comes in to work in the a.m. and a dog is dead.

–Does anyone in authority care?

–Does anyone in authority ask why?

–Is there a record of dead greyhounds at Tucson Greyhound Park?

–Is there any oversight for the welfare of the living or dead dogs at TGP by the Arizona Department of Racing?

In October 2012 Tim Vanderpool of the Tucson Weekly wrote an eloquent article about ADOR titled, Bad Track Record.

“Almost 70 greyhounds were injured over a two-month period at TGP—and the state handed out no punishment”

It surely seems that ADOR doesn’t care about 70 injured racing greyhounds or about dead greyhounds either. The Greyhound Data site lets you see the detailed pedigree map of Atomic Charm (and a million other greyhounds) yet ADOR is clueless about one dog that died at TGP.

(photo courtesy Perry Wood)

——————————-

(the bold words are mine not ADOR)

Bill Walsh

12:55 PM (2 hours ago)

to me, Cassie

Ms. Zoldan,

Please forgive the delay in getting back to you.   The bottom line is that there is no document that we possess to respond to your public record request.  I looked into the situation and, after talking to the Department’s chief steward and chief veterinarian, learned that this greyhound (Atomic Charm) was found dead in its kennel one morning.  The dog’s carcass was placed in a freezer and when Dr. Carlton came to the track that evening, he inspected it and could find no outward evidence of any injuries to Atomic Charm – nothing broken, no evidence of any needle marks etc.  Dr. Carlton could ascribe no reason other than natural causes for its death.  I hope this helps answer your question.

Bill Walsh
Director
Arizona Department of Racing

———————-

This is chilling on so many levels:  1) The Arizona Department of Racing refers to the dog as “it.” I referred to the dog as “she.” 2) Her body was referred to as a carcass. 3) The Arizona Department of Racing was unaware of a race dog’s death. What exactly do they regulate?  3) “nothing broken, no evidence of any needle marks etc.  Dr. Carlton could ascribe no reason other than natural causes for its death. 4) ” If an almost 3 year old racing greyhound is found dead, how can Dr. Carlton assume natural causes?” Is that business as usual? Is it standard procedure to throw the carcass of a dog into the freezer without further investigation? Why can’t a necropsy be done? Where is the Disposition Logs that every kennel is supposed to keep?

ADOR denies PRR

Dear Arizona Department of Racing:

I faxed a public record request for injury reports  for greyhounds at Tucson Greyhound Park.

I received a timely response from Arizona Department of Racing:

“ Dear Ms. Zoldan:  We are unable to provide records in response to your Public Records Reproduction Request of August 17, 2012 requesting “All Tucson Greyhound Park greyhound injury reports for the period of January 1, 2012 through and including July 31, 2012” for the following reason:

The Department does not have public records in its possession which are responsive to your request.

The Department’s response to your request is complete. “

Let’s continue our dialogue . Now my question to the Arizona Department of Racing is: Why don’t you have the injury reports for Tucson Greyhound Park?

According to the Arizona Department of Racing website, “The Department of Racing regulates the Arizona pari-mutuel horse and greyhound racing industry. The Department oversees and supervises all commercial horse, greyhound, and county fair racing meetings; licenses participants; collects state revenues generated by race meetings; promotes and encourages the breeding of horses and greyhounds in the State; and enforces laws and rules related to racing and wagering to protect industry participants and the public.”

According to the Arizona Department of Racing’s Mission:

“MISSION STATEMENT
To regulate and supervise pari-mutuel racing and wagering conduced in Arizona in order to protect the racing participants and the wagering public.   . . .  .”

Just how does the Arizona Department of Racing regulate the greyhounds’ welfare?

According to this document injury reports do exist and here is proof.

How do you protect the racing participants otherwise known as greyhounds if you don’t ever ask to review the injury reports?  The above report states that “the track condition accounted for 7 of 19 injuries and the injuries cluster around fractures.   Some hock injuries can and are rehabilitated  and others are career ending.” (Does that mean the dogs have to return to racing after their hock injuries heal?)  This looks like there are problems at the dog track in South Tucson.

My question to the Arizona Department of Racing is: What kind of regulating is that?

Dog muzzled inside cage at the South Tucson track

Question: When is a public records request not a public records request?  Answer: When it’s sent to the Arizona Department of Racing. The Arizona Department of Racing is a state agency. And for the past gazillion years, it’s been funded by you the taxpayer from the state’s General Fund. Here, it’s an agency that regulates horse racing, county fair horse racing, dog racing, and boxing … all forms of entertainment that rakes in millions of dollars every year – yet – this regulating agency has relied on your tax dollars to pay its salaries and keep it operating until the past year where it was partially funded and this year as of July 2012 is 100% self funded. However, $250,000 will come out of the General Fund to pay for Breeder Awards which was voted for by your AZ legislature.

For now you can peruse last year’s budget here. Oh by the way, Tucson Greyhound Park still gets a hardship tax credit, something it has been privy to since 1995.

Nevertheless for the past few years, when making a public records request for injury reports at Tucson Greyhound Park, has been like asking to see CIA documents. None are forthcoming. The same can be said for disposition logs.

When Phoenix Greyhound Park closed in December 2009, I contacted a reporter from a Phoenix alt weekly asking her to do a story on the disposition of the dogs after the Phoenix track closed. She liked the idea. However, the powers that be at the time at Arizona Department of Racing didn’t like the idea. They said the disposition logs were not in their possession. They said they could request the logs from Phoenix Greyhound Park but decided not to. End of story.

To me that was the story. I told the reporter the fact that Arizona Department of Racing wouldn’t ask for the logs was a big story. It didn’t get pursued.

It’s no secret that I despise greyhound racing and I always will. While I have gotten to know and like some of the people who make their living from this grisly “sport,” I still hate it and want it to end.

Aside from greyhound racing being state-sanctioned animal abuse, it has also been unaccountable. According to yesterday’s e-alert distributed by GREY2K USA, the alert demonstrates how injury report requests to the Arizona Department of Racing have been repeatedly denied but yet they exist. The alert also shows the number of injuries at Tucson Greyhound Park in certain months and the state civil servants bantering back and forth of what should be done about the situation.

Duh. This is nothing new. Month after month, year after year excuses abound but nobody makes anyone accountable. In the report, the condition of the track is mentioned. It’s mentioned here and it’s mentioned here too. Maybe Tucson Greyhound Park should close down until they figure out how to fix the track condition problem once and for all.

I personally am still waiting for Mr. Nolan Thompson, Assistant Director of Racing,  to call me back after I called him a few months ago about some canine flu quarantine rumor.  He was going to check it out and left me know. Still waiting…Mr. Thompson…

Is this something for the Goldwater Institute? Don’t they investigate public record request refusals? “The Goldwater Institute’s Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation provides free legal representation to Arizonans whose constitutional rights are violated by government.”

Recently a governor-appointed Department of Racing Commissioner stated that he wanted to make it much more difficult for citizen groups to submit public information requests, and also suggested that confidential tips of greyhound cruelty should not be reported to authorities. He has since publicly apologized.

What you can do is send an email to Governor Brewer and ask her to enforce public record requests for Tucson Greyhound Park. As an Arizona taxpayer you have that right.

And as an animal lover, please do it for the greyhounds.

(Photo courtesy GREY2K USA from a PACC public information request.)

TGP: No way to treat a dog

Bad branding: Skechers promotes greyhound racing

Late last year filming by Skechers for a Super Bowl commercial happened at the end of the line dog track in South Tucson.

Advocates jumped to attention sending hundreds of letters and petitions signatures to Skechers asking them to retract the commercial and not promote greyhound racing (last count 45,000+ signatures). They said no dogs were harmed during the making of the commercial. That’s not the issue – greyhound racing in itself is cruel and inhumane – and dogs sustain injuries at that dog track on a regular basis.

Dogs die. They don’t call it a blood sport for nothing.

Prior to using Tucson dog track, Skechers approached the adoption group Homestretch Greyhounds in California and offered them $10,000 for the use of some dogs. To Homestretch’s credit they refused, saying they didn’t want to help promote dog racing.

This is what Skechers and Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks (who is also in the commercial) will be associating their brands with:

Here’s a video where the general manager of the Tucson dog track refuses the press entry to the dog kennels, yet compares TGP to the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal is an amazing example of timeless architecture. I wonder why TGP still exists. I don’t see the correlation.

It was pointed out by Ironicus Maximus that the Taj Mahal has several levels of meaning. See, the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum. It’s a giant tribute to death. Ah, now I get the connection.

Here is a 2008 injury report compiled from public records from the Arizona Department of Racing. At that time Phoenix Greyhound Park was still in operation. Mercifully, PGP closed December 19, 2009.

Two dogs listed in the 2008 injury report are still racing – each of these dogs has raced more than 200 times. AK’s Toureg (turns 5 years old on January 28) and CDC Make Me Stop (now 5 years old).

The above injury reports were obtained from public record requests. Now the Arizona Department Racing thinks it has found some “loophole” and injury records are no longer available. How convenient is that? How accountable is that?

Hey animal lovers, contact your Arizona legislators and ask them to close that loophole and make Arizona dog racing accountable. While you’re at it ask about the hardship tax credit TGP has been getting since 1995.

In the state of Texas records were obtained from the Texas Racing Commission — 1,351 greyhound injuries were reported at Gulf Greyhound Park between January 2008 and August 4, 2011. During this same period, 49 greyhounds died or were euthanized. Read the report. This is the state of the Dallas Mavericks.

Broken leg dogs are no big deal

South Tucson dog track is so end of the line that in this article (near the bottom) the general manager says that if they don’t get racinos, that is the end Tucson Greyhound Park – “Our days are numbered, our years are numbered,” Taylor said. “We either have to get slot machines here or we’re going to have to close. It’s the only thing proven to work across the United States.”

The end of the line dog track is a black mark on South Tucson

And that’s just the tip of the bloody iceberg.

So much for brand marketing and its relationship to mass greyhound cruelty.

BOYCOTT SKECHERS Get more facts & sign the petition.

Tucson Skechers Protest – January 28
SW corner of Campbell & Ft. Lowell Blvd in front of 3175 N. Campbell Avenue from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday – January 28. If it’s not hot, please bring your greyhounds. No small dogs, please.

Bring a sign or use an existing one.

See you there!

(Photo is from GREY2K USA from a public information request of PACC.)

AZ Dept of Racing Annual Report 2011

Waste not; want not – Arizona Department of Racing

Interpretation: Don’t want the waste of the Arizona Department of Racing

Our Arizona lawmakers talk about government waste and claim they want an overhaul. Start here – Arizona Department of Racing.

On numerous occasions I have contacted different state legislators not just where I am a constituent and asked why Tucson Greyhound Park gets singled out for hardship tax credits. Most are incredulous at first and say they will get back to me or say that I must be mistaken. I direct them to the Arizona Department of Racing annual reports – and then never hear from them again even after repeatedly following up. Even the lawmakers claiming to be animal advocates go deaf. You know who you are.

If you care about government waste – please read through the ADOR annual report.

If you didn’t even know there was an annual report for the Arizona Department of Racing, you’re in the same sinking vessel as many of your elected officials.

Here are some highlights:

Page 1
The total pari-mutuel handle for all wagering was $169 million, a decrease…

Page 2
By far the greatest highlight for the Department and its leadership this past year was of significant achievement legislatively to transition to total “self funding” over the next two years (paraphrasing – and to take the pressure off of the scarce General Fund during these trying economic times…)

Translation: The General Fund has been financing the Arizona Department of Racing’s budget for far too many years.

Page 1 a
Read about the Department of Racing commissioners in particular Thomas Kelly, DVM.

Page 2
The primary mission of the AZ Department of Racing is to regulate and supervise pari-mutuel horse and greyhound racing and wagering conducted in Arizona in order to protect racing participants and the wagering public. In addition, the Department regulates and supervises boxing and mixed martial arts events conducted in Arizona to protect participants in these events.

Note: Who are the racing participants? If you have ever gone to one of the monthly Arizona Department of Racing meetings, the words “greyhound welfare” is never mentioned. The horse jockeys are also under great stress to perform whether the turf is safe or not. This puzzles me – “to protect racing participants” – as to who that might be?

Page 5
Teletracking (off track betting) – The total handle generated by commercial and county fair racing for teletracking was $125.7 million. This included $103.1 million for horse racing and $22.6 million for greyhound racing.

Page 11
Racehorse Adoption
The Department provides grants to non-profit organizations to promote the adoption of retired racehorses in Arizona. The funds for this program are generated from a surcharge against all civil penalties assessed in connection with horse racing in Arizona. The program went into effect in 2005 and the first award was made in 2006.
Performance Measures FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011
Number of grants awarded 1 1 1
Amount of grants awarded $1,647 $1,244 $1,483

Page 12
ADOR is rather stingy when it comes to horse adoption grants especially since the total amount of pari-mutuel earnings is $120,778,307. Turf Paradise doesn’t get a hardship tax credit and paid $284,804 for state pari-mutuel revenues (2011).

Page 21 – ADOR is stingier with the greyhound adoption grants
The Department provides grants to non-profit organizations to promote the adoption of retired racing greyhounds as domestic pets. This fund receives 100% of all fees collected from licensing greyhound racing kennels, breeding farms and other operations where greyhounds are raised for racing purposes.

In FY 2009, the fund received $0.
Performance Measures FY 2009 FY 2010 FY 2011
Number of grants awarded 0 3 2
Amount of grants awarded $0 $375 $600

Page 25
Greyhound Racing – Tucson Greyhound Park
DISTRIBUTION OF REVENUES 2011
Returned to Wagering Public $12,361,949
State Pari-Mutuel Revenues $0 (ditto for the past 5 years and since 1995)
Track Commission – $3,265,829

Hardship Tax Credit – $472,604 (for 5 years TGP has received $1.6 million)
Total Track Revenues $3,773,306

The report gives the figures from 2007 but I’ve only listed 2011. The fiscal year is July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011.

Raise your hand if you are a small business and get a hardship tax credit too?

Raise your hand if you are a business and pay no income to the state of Arizona on your earnings?

Why does Tucson dog track have that special compensation? And they have had it since 1995…Ask your elected officials.

Page 28
Arizona Department of Racing has a $4.2 MILLION DOLLAR BUDGET.

$2.7 MILLION DOLLARS COMES FROM THE GENERAL FUND. Where does the rest of the money come from? Read the annual report.

The General Fund subsidizes the Arizona Department of Racing. If this isn’t government waste – then what is?

Next time your elected officials tell you there’s no money for this and that – tell them to go read the ADOR annual report. The General Fund is supposed to fund some of our basic necessities like education and Medicaid but instead it throws money at the Department of Racing.

And if it’s happening with ADOR – where else is it happening?

Missy never knew the joy of a soft bed.

For Tucsonans who have been greyhound adopters for more than four years, many will remember an incident that received much press when on the night of August 31, 2007, an allegedly inebriated Tucson Greyhound Park kennel operator tried to save Missy’s life after she broke her leg during a race.

Poor Missy (racing name Pa’s Mismakamess) was only 2 years old and had raced 7 times. Other than being a race dog, her other misfortune was having a kennel operator who didn’t want to save her life.

And so she was euthanized even though the allegedly inebriated kennel operator tried to save her by removing Missy from the premises; even though a local greyhound adoption group was on their way to pick her up; even though an adoption group from San Diego would have jumped in their vehicle and driven 6 hours to pick her up; and even though a virtual greyhound adoption group was on the premises in name only and did nothing to save Missy’s life.

According to an Arizona Department of Racing document which chronicled the event after many complaints were logged, a track vet …”determined that the animal had a fracture to the right hock. The options were either surgical correction or humane euthanization.”

To the rest of us — adopters and animal advocates — a greyhound with a broken leg or broken hock will heal and become a beloved pet. However, to the greyhound racing industry and to the state agency who is supposed to oversee greyhound welfare, a dog with a broken leg has no chance of winning money and therefore is exploitable and expendable.

Let’s remember Missy…

Meet on Wednesday – August 31, 2011 – 7 to 8:30 a.m. – drop by on your way to work

Peaceful protest to Remember MISSY the GREYHOUND and her senseless death.

(And all the other greyhounds who have lost their lives from cruel and inhumane dog racing in South Tucson)

Meet in front of a midtown venue with off-track betting located at 4915 E. Speedway Blvd. (2 blocks east of Swan), park on Arcadia (FYI: OTB activity props up dog racing).

Bring a sign or signs will be available (some from the original protest in 2007).

(Cairo is pictured in the photo. As a cherished pet, Cairo enjoyed soft beds and loving hands; comforts that Missy never had the chance to experience. Photo is courtesy of David Wood.)