Plight of Tucson racing greyhounds
Around 8 p.m. tonight, I decided to go for a walk without my hound. It was too damn hot to inflict her to the 98-degree temperature with stifling humidity hanging in the air. Plus the sidewalk was too hot to the touch.
As I labored around the neighborhood, I started thinking about the greyhounds running at the dog track in South Tucson. They would not be strolling slowly like I was, instead they would be running at 35 mph, all because somebody somewhere placed a $2 bet.
Would you allow your Golden Retrievers or Jack Russell Terriers to do the same on a hot summer night?
Why is it that only greyhounds race in this hotter-than-hell heat and not horses? Horses race seasonally.
Why do greyhounds run for their lives during the height of Arizona’s summer?
Why do Ariizona’s greyhounds run in the hotter-than-hell summer heat? Because to the greyhound industry folks, they are disposable running machines . Pure and simple.
Greyhound Adoption 101: potential adopters are informed that since greyhounds have little or no body fat, they should not be “outside” dogs, period. Cannot tolerate the heat. Cannot tolerate the cold.
Yet, greyhounds were raced in the snow in New England at the end of the racing season. At least there they had a season. But, best of all, New Englanders had enough, and now there’s no more greyhound racing in New England.
Arizona, however:
racing the greyhounds in blistering desert heat,
injecting the greyhounds with steroids, in violation of the local ordinance voted in by the public,
greyhounds confined in small cages nearly all day, in violation of the local ordinance voted in by the public,
greyhounds fed raw diseased 4D meat, in violation of the local ordinance voted in by the public.
Someone, please – help these dogs. This blogger is 110% correct: End Tucson Greyhound Racing.