ANIMAL PEOPLE is the leading independent newspaper providing original investigative coverage of animal protection worldwide. Founded in 1992, ANIMAL PEOPLE has no alignment or affiliation with any other entity. |
This site built and maintained by: GREANVILLE ASSOCIATESand CRESCENT COMMUNICATIONS •Rev. 12.1.05 Copyright ANIMAL PEOPLE, INC. 1992--2006
 |
 |
ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS
|
MONTH: March 2008
British reporter uncovers another greyhound scandal; dog racing in U.S. may be near finish
LONDON--The Royal Veterinary College pays the Greyhound Clinic in Essex £10 per dog to kill healthy racing greyhounds and supply body parts to the college, revealed Daniel Foggo of the London Times on March 2, 2008.
The fee paid by the RVC is in addition to the £30 per dog that the Greyhound Clinic charges dog owners, Foggo wrote. "The RVC, the oldest and largest veterinary college in Britain, admitted that it had similar agreements with other clinics," added Foggo.
Spokespersons for the National Greyhound Racing Club, Royal SPCA, and Greyhounds U.K. expressed shock. Foggo exposed the RVC scheme by posing as a greyhound owner with dogs to dispose of. Foggo used a similar ruse in 2006 to expose the modus operandis of one David Smith, of Seaham, County Durham, who had allegedly killed as many as 10,000 racing greyhounds, and the Leigh Animal Sanctuary in Greater Manchester, where "an employee called David accepted £70 in cash to kill two young greyhounds," no questions asked.
The sanctuary began refusing to accept greyhounds on the day Foggo's article about it appeared.
The two remaining greyhound tracks in Massachusetts will be obliged to end live racing by January 1, 2010 if voters approve a referendum placed on the November 2008 state ballot by the Committee to Protect Dogs, a coalition including Grey2K USA, the Humane Society of the U.S., and the Massachusetts SPCA.
A similar proposal lost by 2% of the vote in 2000. A broader measure that also included provisions to protect police and service dogs and strengthen the Massachusetts ban on dogfighting was barred from the 2006 ballot by the state Supreme Judicial Court, which held that it addressed too many subjects.
The Corpus Christi Greyhound Race Track is closed for 2008, after losing $3.8 million a year in recent seasons, building a debt of 35.5 million. Built in 1989, the track may reopen in 2009, general manager Rick Pimental told Dan Kelley of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The Wichita Greyhound Park in Kansas and the Tampa Greyhound Track also closed after the 2007 season, leaving fewer than 35 greyhound tracks still operating in the U.S., 13 of them in Florida.
The Florida betting handle dropped to $188.5 million in 2007, less than 20% of the volume of 20 years ago, when more than 50 greyhound tracks were in business nationwide.