Animal Cruelty blog
Greyhound racing is a “sport” where Greyhounds are made to race around a oval or circular track and usually spectators will put money/bet on the outcome of the race. Greyhounds are a bred of dog that is generally tall, slender, has keen sight, and is usually capable of higher speeds than most dogs. In ancient times, Greyhounds were often used for hunting of small game, but now mostly used for racing and coursing. About every year, there are many healthy, young Greyhound pups that get killed, because they aren’t good enough to race. Luckily the racing of these Greyhounds has declined a fair amount in recent years, because people have become more knowledgeable of the awful things associated with this sport. Sadly, there are still over twenty tracks in the U.S. that are operational. Even though Greyhounds are generally a pretty strong breed, the Greyhounds forced to race often endure gruesome injuries on the track. Some injuries include cardiac arrest, broken legs, broken necks, spinal cord paralysis, etc. Not only do these dogs suffer on the track, they suffer off the track as well. The Greyhounds that get involuntarily caught up in this brutal activity often spend most of their lives in warehouse-style kennels for over twenty hours a day or kept outside in dirty areas that have little to no shelter. Often times these enclosures aren’t heated or air conditions, so most dogs suffer from internal parasites, ticks, and fleas. These Greyhounds aren’t usually provided with human affection, adequate sustenance, or veterinary care either. You would think that this would be enough for all states to turn their back to this disgusting practice, although some states have, their are still states that don’t really care. Unfortunately, Greyhound racing tracks are still being operated in seven different states: West Virginia, Alabama, Texas, Arizona, Iowa, Arkansas, and Florida. Luckily, Greyhound racing attendance is slowly getting smaller nationwide. The reason for this is most states are or have passed laws that end/prohibit the “sport”. Also, part of the decrease of Greyhound racing could be due to a large loss in profits, track facilities are losing money on these races. Plus, state government usually end up having to spend more to control these places and don’t make much profit from it. What is even more surprising as that over the past ten years, Greyhound breeding has declined by 57% and gambling on dog racing has declined by 66%. I think that it is great that states are slowly becoming more and more against Greyhound racing or any dog racing for that matter. In my opinion, I don’t think any animal should be put through that sort of torment and physical brutality. What is even worse about this is that often times dogs that come out of this racing have many health problems and usually don’t make very good pets. It is like the people who race these Greyhounds and bid on them aren’t even giving the dogs a chance in life. I feel like every living thing should get to have a chance at a happy life, plus, dogs are meant to be companions and to protect. By throwing these dogs into racing at such a young age, they don’t know any better and aren’t serving the purpose they were originally meant to serve. I am a big dog lover, so I generally feel very strongly towards this topic, but other people may have different views than I do. http://www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty/other-animal-issues/greyhound-racing Monday, October 3rd, 2016 - Blog Post 6
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AuthorDebra Lane |