The greyhound ballot initiative is not what it seems. It is not a straightforward, be-kind-to-animals type of law. Though there were some problems in the past, the greyhound racing industry has worked hard to completely resolve them. After all, there are many faster and easier ways to make money; the people in greyhound racing have chosen this venue because they love animals, love spending time with them, and love watching them enjoy themselves. Greyhounds are crazy about racing—and if they aren’t, they don’t do well and are found other homes. Racetracks even hold reunion days for former racers so they can do what they love again.
Ballot Question 3 was written by animal rights groups, which deliberately hide their agenda (to eliminate all animal use and create a vegan society) behind proposals that sound superficially humane, to fool those who do not have thorough knowledge of how animal husbandry really works. The animal rights movement’s goal is to legislate our animals away from us in small, incremental steps before we notice what is happening. This is one of the steps.
As usual, the animal rights groups have relied on myth and misinformation to create concern about racing greyhounds. But here are the facts:
To maximize their chances of winning, while they are at the track greyhounds are housed in heated and air-conditioned facilities in giant oversized crates (size prescribed by law), but spend little daytime in them, as they are taken out to exercise areas to run and play with other greyhounds at least six times a day to keep them fit for racing. The injury rate in Massachusetts is very low, totaling 714 over the past six years, most extremely minor, out of 465,176 races—a rate of .0015 per race. This is a fraction of the injury rate in any human sport, professional, school, or recreational. There has been no documented case of greyhound mistreatment at a Massachusetts facility since 1935. And homes are found for 100 percent of retired greyhounds.
I urge residents to vote against ballot Question 3—and strike a blow for animal welfare, against animal rights.
Bonnie Chandler
Prospect Hill Road
