Texas Dog Track Closes - Financial Woes
Good news: Today (December 31, 2007) is the last time greyhounds will have to run for their lives around the dog track in Corpus Christi. Hopefully, that saves the lives of a few thousand greyhounds who won’t be overbred just to make a buck.
According to the article, the Corpus Christi dog track was facing financial losses of $3.5 million a year. That oughta send a message to the powers the be that the cruel blood sport of greyhound racing is no longer entertaining to the masses.
The article says that the track still has 70 dogs that need homes and will feed them until adoptions are made. We hope that is truly the case. We hope the dogs don’t disappear like dogs do in Tucson.
Imagine a track closing because of financial woes. It appears that Texas is far superior than Arizona where the greyhound racing tracks not only get away with murder but also not paying any state taxes.
This is fantastic news!!!! Yes, hope they keep an eye on those 70 greys until they find loving forever homes.
Well…this should make us all realize that is finance that finally brings the doors slamming shut.
The folks who own the Corpus track also own Florida tracks and at least one of those, Naples-Ft. Myers, is struggling to stay afloat. A recent series of articles in the Naples Daily News (which read more like a paid advertisement than a journalistic endeavor) have attempted to glorify dog racing in their coverage of the 50th anniversay of the Naples-Ft. Myers track. I’m thrilled to see numerous letters to the editor which object to this representation of a brutal “sport” as something the citizens of this area condone. One of the owners, Izzy Havenick, is quoted as saying, “We love it. We have a great time every day going to the tracks.” Obviously, Izzy spends no time in the kennels where the suffering occurs, or if he does (yes, Izzy’s a “he”!), it’s disturbing to think he loves it.
Funny that they keep blaming the demise of dog racing on casino-style gambling without giving much credit to humanity for refusing to support an industry whose foundation is the suffering and mistreatment of greyhounds and other animals (remember the live lure used for training racers).
I believe that people who grasp the seriousness of what goes on behind the scenes of dog racing, and refuse to accept it will be the downfall of dog racing. Even those who claim to be in it for the dogs will eventually be exposed.
Step aside all you “neutrals” and you racing fanatics - we’re coming through with a message the general public supports: Racing is NOT something greyhounds WANT to do - it is something they are TRAINED to do and then tossed aside when they don’t perform up to expectations. Dog is man’s best friend, not his best tool to exploit.
WAKE UP racing industry AND the adoption groups who accept it as something over which they have no control. Dog racing is dead….help us carry it to the grave and bury it. Speak up!
The only good thing I have to say about Corpus’s dog track closing is there is plenty of dog tracks I can gamble at………………..thank you Arizona and Florida and Mexico
David-
hopefully, it won’t be long before you have no tracks to wreck your karma on. Yes, I do think it is immoral to bet against these beautiful animals.To bet on one is to gamble with their lives. Greyhound racing is a dying sport both for the dogs and the people that would exploit them. Arizona racing is not for long- the hardest battle is going to be Florida. maybe you will have to move there in order to assist in the killing of innocent dogs.