Another Day, Another Racing Animal Dies
What the world needs now is another animal to die in the name of racing.
The Kentucky Derby is huge and millions of people have been exposed to this tragedy including children. If there ever was a curtain of innocence in horse racing, yesterday’s horrors have now been forever etched in the minds of its viewers.
Not that it makes any difference.
Horses will continue to be injured and die in the name of horse racing and big money.
Greyhound racing sort of slips through the cracks because too many people are still in the dark about its horrors. Greyhound racing doesn’t draw the money, the media, or the celebrity that horses do.
A sports columnist for USA Today wrote a touching article about Eight Belles, asking some good questions.
PETA wants the death investigated as well as some other changes.
And if you want to cry your eyes out, there are plenty of Youtube videos but this one is among the best because it doesn’t show prolonged racing scenes.
R.I.P. Eight Belles you didn’t deserve this and neither does every other racing animal bred and trained for profit.
Thanks for the blog post.
The New York Times wrote an article questioning the sanctity of horse racing by saying that it’s no more humane than greyhound racing.
“Within the racing industry, Eight Belles was a tragic but glorious casualty. The industry is in denial: racing grinds up horses, and we dress up the sport with large hats, mint juleps and string bands.”
Read the article – Race Illustrates Brutal Side of Sport
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/sports/othersports/04rhoden.html?_r=1&em&ex=1209960000&en=a7824db46a95008f&ei=5087&oref=slogin
Just found your blog and site via azstarnet and their article today. I’m a Tucson-area ‘human’ to two retired racing greyhounds, and I’ll be adding your blog to my subscriptions, and printing out several articles from it to pass on to other local greyhound owners at the dog park we go to. So glad you are here, and I will follow up with some letters, and read the other sites you’ve pointed to. Thank you.
Peace,
Melissa
I’ve read all your posts on this blog, and while I could reply to each one I’ll confine all my comments into this one response, to make it easier for you to remove an opposing view.
This post is indicitive of why you are being sued.
The only thing you do by posting about a HORSE racing death, on a site designed to supposedly end greyhound racing at Tucson, is intentionally mislead people to equate the two.
In other posts, I enjoy (sarcasm) how you make the intentional (and incorrect) comparison and claims that GH racing is a blood sport. Had you taken the time to actually learn what a blood sport is, maybe you wouldn’t be getting sued.
I’m a libertarian. I believe you should be allowed to say whatever you want to say. But I also believe that if it isn’t accurate, you should be held accountable for it. So, learn from this. Stop trying to sensationalize what you are saying. You don’t work for Hard Copy or Fox. Report what is accurate without embellishment and over the top sensationalism, and you would’nt be hauled into court.
But if you need any more injury/death stories, I’ve put down two greyhounds who broke their legs at my house in the last 6 months. Of course they were pets and that doesn’t exactly make the point you want, does it?
Greyt Blog for helping the greyhounds! Horse racing, dog racing, dog fighting, cock fighting… It is all the same… it is all exploitation of animals for the perverse entertainment of a certain fraction of our society.
I have been involved in greyhound rescue for several years now. Proponents of the sport and industry insiders have said over and over again that it is “getting better”… I see absolutely no evidence of that! It is NOT getting better. As long as dogs are still being injured and maimed every day and as long as dogs still die every day, what can be “better” about that?
I live in Florida where there are more tracks than in any other state. Working with rescue here makes it perfectly clear what is happening to these dogs and who is taking responsibility for them. They come to the rescue groups maimed and broken and emaciated and full of bugs and parasites. I have seen this firsthand. There is no arguing that it happens every day. Dog racing is a cruel and inhumane industry based on money and money alone. And the ones who really pay are the dogs… sometimes with their lives. The killing and cruelty needs to stop. I will work to end dog racing for as long as I am able to breathe.
I am so ashamed of the part of our society that actually supports this outdated venue. I hope that one day, they too, will become enlightened enough to find another way to entertain themselves – other than through the exploitation and abuse of animals.
Keep up the good work, lots of us out here support you 100%!!
I came here via an e-mail post about a lawsuit against this website. I have adopted a retired racing greyhound, and he has become a steadfast if not somewhat goofy companion. I couldn’t have asked for a better friend.
What I’ve learned thus far from other people in the rescue about the racing industry is saddening, to say the least. I wish I could say I was surprised by it.
The one comment I have about the USA Today opinion piece on animal racing is that I think the author commits the fallacy of false equivalence. Animal racing and human racing are two different animals (no pun intended), in that human athletes have a choice. Human athletes have rights and protections. Greyhounds and horses do not.
I love the sport of dog and horse running. In their element, flowing over the ground with seemingly no effort at all, they are beautiful to behold.
I loathe and despise the inhumanity and callous indifference of the breeders, track owners, and, to no small extent, those who bet on these races knowing full well what goes on underneath the stands and behind the scenes.
Mark,
Thanks so much for posting.
I hope you come back often and do what you can to help end the inhumane treatment.