Organic Health Alliance

paolaandfrancesca:

The anti-racing organization Grey2K has been protesting a SuperBowl ad filmed at Tucson Greyhound Park that is going to air this afternoon. The premise of the ad is that a French bulldog gets a pair of Skechers and is able to outrun a pack of greyhounds. This would be cute if the dogs were running at a dog park, but glamorizing greyhound racing is, to me, a very bad thing. The dog racing industry has been slowly fading away, partly because many states have banned it and partly because it simply isn’t as profitable as running casinos, but I worry that could change if people start thinking going to the races is cool.

Most racing greyhounds are not actively abused thanks to watchdog groups and increased state monitoring, but racing is dangerous and many dogs get injured. They fly around the track at 35 mph, and it is not uncommon for there to be collisions. I also object to the breeding of dogs for the track; it’s impossible to ensure that all the puppies will grow up to be successful racers (many never make it), so more dogs are bred each year than can race. Adoption groups work to place retired racers (and greyhounds who never raced) in loving homes, but not all of the dogs get lucky, and that doesn’t change the fact that this industry creates a supply of animals for which it has no use after 2-4 years.

Some people object to the keeping of the dogs in small cages for most of the day and to the quality of food fed to the dogs, but larger cages and better food quality would not change my objections to dog racing. The racing industry simply cannot give the dogs the kind of individual medical attention that they need. Some dogs come through fine and are in good shape at the end of their careers like our female greyhound. Others, not so much. Our male greyhound was an absolute mess when he arrived from Florida. He was absolutely covered in fleas and ticks (he still has some scarring from the bites), and he was 20 pounds below his current healthy weight. In fact, he was under his racing weight because he had contracted a tick-born disease called erlichia. People on the street would threaten to report me to the SPCA when we first adopted him—it was that bad. There is no way that an animal receiving adequate veterinary care would ever have gotten into such a condition. I don’t think the owners who race them are malicious, but the dogs do not receive the individualized care necessary to prevent such situations.

That is why I signed the change.org petition from Grey2K asking Skechers not to run the ad, and that is why I won’t be excited to see greyhounds on television this afternoon. And it’s why I certainly won’t be buying anything made by Skechers.

(via allcreatures)