The Washington Post informs us that greyhound racing, a once popular form of gambling that as recently as 1991 brought in $3.5 billion and was operated at more than 50 tracks in 15 states, is in freefall and headed to oblivion. Betting on the dogs netted only $665 million in 2012, and just 21 tracks remain in seven states, with some of them already on borrowed time. Any decline in state sanctioned gambling is good news (yes, I am shedding no tears over the closing of one casino after another in Atlantic City, even the ones not owed by Donald Trump), but dog racing was always a particularly unsavory and unethical breed of the malady. Good riddance. The sooner that last greyhound has chased his last mechanical rabbit, the better off we are.
I have a bias here, it is true. My uncle, the youngest brother of my mom, was addicted to dog racing in Massachusetts, where the “sport” was banned in 2010, but not in time to save Uncle Charlie. He had a wife and two sons, and worked hard as a truck driver, but threw away an unconscionable percentage of his limited resources betting on racing canines. Maybe he would have crippled his prospects and harmed his family by finding other ways to waste his money if there had been no greyhound racing; probably he would have. Nevertheless, it was this corrupt, ugly, stupid gambling industry that wrecked his life. I hate it.
Dog racing was initially linked to allowing slot machines, another evil beast, to become legal, as little by little—first lotteries, then casinos—the states abandoned their ethical duties to embrace the cheap income that could be made by enticing the poor and the stupid to blow their paychecks on false hopes of a big jackpot. One they were hooked on the instant gratification of video poker and credit card one-armed bandits, however, greyhound racing became too slow a method of losing money. “It’ll take you half an hour to lose $50 at a racetrack. You can do it in five minutes sitting in front of a slot machine, ” said an insider interviewed by the Washington Post. This is called progress.
In one respect, it is progress. Slot machines destroy human beings, but they at least they don’t hurt animals too. Animal cruelty opponents have long targeted greyhound racing, in which habitual losers were killed, and various kinds of abuse were common: dogs injured in training, being fed contaminated food, receiving inadequate veterinary care, even beatings. Here’s a powerful hint regarding the kind of ethical thinking typical of the sport: responding to accusations that greyhounds are cruelly kept in pens when not training or racing, meaning most of the day, breeders pointed out “that many urban dogs spend their days in crates” too.
Yes, and we call those dogs abused as well. With such finely tuned ethical instincts and concern for their dogs well-being as that statement embodies, how can anyone doubt that the greyhound breeder’s practices are humane?
Fortunately, greyhound rescue organizations have flourished in recent years, and more dog owners are discovering how unusually gentle, loving, kind, smart and attentive this breed is. (Actually all the varieties of greyhounds are marvelous, from the delicate whippet to the majestic, soulful, golden-eyed Irish Wolfhound, my father’s favorite dog.) I don’t think greyhounds will miss the demise of dog racing, and neither should anyone else.
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Facts: Washington Post
Ethics Alarms 
I certainly won’t. Greyhound racing-pit bull fighting, same thing, far as I’m concerned.
Great post. You covered two major ethical issues in one post. I have always felt that state sanctioned gambling preys upon the most vulnerable persons with the fewest economic choices. It does however offer a valuable argument against those that say that government is a benevolent force.
As an animal lover I have always found it unconscionable to lock a living being in a cage unless it is to protect society or for transport to the vet. I have always wondered why those who claim to be animal lovers do so. I have had dogs and cats and have never felt it necessary to contain them. Would they lock their children in a closet if they had to go somewhere without them? Mi Casa Es Su Casa or something like that.
I don’t understand routine crating either. If you get a pet, you can’t put them away in a box until you take them out at a convenient time like some shiney toy. You commit to giving them food and shelter and they commit to getting underfoot when they provide you company. If you don’t want company, get a turtle or pet rock. I cannot like crating. It’s not like they will complain, but that is still breaking the deal we make by getting a pet, only for our convenience. Get a shiny new car if you want to be admired not a pet that will be a part of your life and household for its lifetime.
I can when it is pouring rain outside, we have to go somewhere and the dogs have a penchant for destroying pillows when we aren’t there.
I thought crating was unethical as well until we adopted a dog who had been crate trained. He WANTS to go into it when we are not there because it makes him more comfortable. If we don’t put him in it, he will do something bad — like eat an entire chair or couch.
When we are at home, he sticks to us like glue and sleeps in our bed, but he wants his crate too.
My sister’s dog is the same, although when she stays with us, she happily adapts and snuggles up with us along with Rugby. Of course, dogs are the ultimate creatures of habit—our dog gets frantic if you take off his collar, for example.
That is, when her dog stays with us. When my sister stays with us, we keep her in a crate…
Well, that’s the proper place for siblings obviously.
Happy that it is going away. So should circuses, zoos and sea worlds.In modern times we should know more and do more about all animal abuse
I think it should be obvious that if people never see wildlife, they won’t care about it. Then there are the species that can only exist in zoos. Are the elephants and tigers being slaughtered by poachers better off than their wildlife park brethren? I think not.
You need to think this through.
Don’t know if this is true or not, but I like it. I have heard that in Kenya, if you are caught in the act of poaching, you can be killed on the spot. Sounds good to me, but it WON’T stop poaching. Circuses treat their animals well because lives and livelihoods depend on them. Zoo’s are getting better and better as habitats become more natural. Seaworlds, I don’t know about, but my first guess would be not so great. Or at least, could be better. Faye is maybe PETA?
I recall being in one of the service areas of our zoo, walking towards the bear area when one of the animal handlers came sprinting past me at break neck speed. When I caught up to him and passed him, he asked why I was running —
“I felt it wise to join a handler who is sprinting away from the bear area and ask questions later…not the other way around.”
He politely explained that an endangered owl had escaped its exhibit area during transfer from the hospital and the zoo was enacting one of it’s escaped animal drills to contain and recapture.
The next day I found out they didn’t recover the bird until late into the evening.
I wish the same thing would happen to horse racing.
It will. Think about it: boxing and horse racing were once the major sports after baseball in public interest and attendance. No more. It’s dying out too, just very slowly.
Indeed, if you had told any American in 1936 that one day college football would be more popular than horse racing, and more lucrative, they would have laughed.
Are you sure they wouldn’t miss it in the brief period before they were nearly all put down, if they only knew that that was what was going to happen? It’s certainly what happened to the working dogs of Britain, that had been used to tow traders’ carts and the like, after animal cruelty laws put a stop to that in the nineteenth century. But at least the reformers no longer saw working dogs suffering.
My statement was predicated on the conclusion that this won’t happen. In the Northern Virginia area, people are adopting greyhounds left and right, and I’m pretty sure, after what happened to Michael Vick, any widespread effort to put down the dogs will be stopped in its tracks. I also wondered it a greyhound would miss the racing, which they do seem to enjoy, being built for it, more than they would not miss the abuse and the confinement. What I really need to do is take a poll.
Oh? Think it through. Nobody is going to keep surplus dogs once they can be disposed of, so the only issue is how that happens. Owners can’t be sure that advertising for adopters will work over the short time scale necessary, not with the numbers that would need to be placed, so that very pressure against putting the dogs down would backfire as the owners would prefer to keep a low profile while they dealt with their problem; any bet on adopting would rule out anything else, as that would then be too visible. Their preferred option would most likely be the usual “shoot, shovel and shut up” way that hits other protected animals, done retail by each owner on just a few dogs each – but quite a few in aggregate. You know, the way mandated animal protection can work out the same way that a high minimum wage doesn’t actually mean people necessarily receive it, as many simply don’t get work at all (that analogy breaks down in certain wage ranges and labour market conditions, but it will serve for purposes of illustration).
P.M. — not sure how widespread this is, but your comments reminded me of a rescue group at MSU. Even twenty years ago, students could donate time or money to help take care of rescued greyhounds. http://www.renewedlife.org/
. I also wondered it a greyhound would miss the racing, which they do seem to enjoy, being built for it, more than they would not miss the abuse and the confinement.
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We have friends with a rescued Greyhound, he is a total couch potato.
I don’t know what he was like when he was younger.
I believe racing potatoes would also be cruel.
I enjoy loving & caring for my beloved Italian greyhounds. They are my fur kids. This article made me smile & be glad – I always say “race cars not dogs” When I adopted a full-size retired greyhounds I was told by the organization that greyhounds are the most destroyed animal on earth over three times hundred more than any other animal because they are culled by the hundreds and have been for years and years.
Thank you jack for sharing your perspective.
There is NO chance AT ALL that this good trend will bleed-over into promoting cultural inhibitions against, and stifling regulations “for,” training of dogs for “working purposes” – right? [snickering]
Oh well – I guess someone could always start training pigs instead…