MSPCA Page on Greyhound Racing Ban
A vote YES on Question 3 supports a ban on Greyhound Racing in Massachusetts. A vote NO will not change anything.
I was totally unaware of how the Greyhound Racing industry worked until we adopted a Grey about 2 months ago. He is bald on the back end and belly from being in a kennel for upwards of 20 hours a day. He's a wonderful player, the worlds fastest couch potato, and it's sad to me that he never knew what stairs were or what a dishwasher sounded like when he first came off the track. His fur still is brittle from the lack of perfect nutrition, however he's getting better every day.
He broke his leg at age 3, and has been off the track since. We have a copy of the X-Ray showing the break, the pins that kept his leg in place, and then the surgical site when they removed all the pins several months later. The poor guy!
The good news is there are people there that leash train these dogs and work with them every day. Our grey is totally fine being handled in every imaginable way and he walks better than our other dog on a leash!
Yes, sighthounds need to run, but there are better avenues to release the energy. Lure coursing and other sighthound specific sports are becoming more popular, and are more humane for the dogs.
On the other side of the coin are the people who will lose their jobs if the tracks shut down. I'm sure there will be other things popping up at Wonderland - perhaps if Greyhound Racing is banned, they will allow the Casinos to move in, or put something else in it's place that will open up 1,000's of jobs.
I feel badly for the people there whose jobs are on the line, but I also can't support an industry that makes all of it's money by sacrificing the welfare of these regal and beautiful animals.
I support a Yes on question 3. I'm not telling anyone else how to vote - but I did want to put both sides of the coin out there so you can make a choice and vote.
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