Breaking News – Florida bill to uncouple greyhound racing from state protection takes another step forward
The news on Florida greyhound racing is coming in at an increased pace. An article posted today on Bradenton.com reports the bill to end the requirement for casinos to hold greyhound races advanced out of the House Business and Consumer Affairs Committee on Tuesday.
The bill had previously progress in the Florida Senate.
Bradenton.com quotes Rep. Dana Young, a Tampa Republican who is sponsoring the measure, as saying – “For us to create a false market for the dog breeding product at the expense of taxpayers simply makes no sense.”
Young is referring to the decline in greyhound racing the subsequent 96 percent decline in tax revenues from the industry since 1990. She is also quoted with this important statement – “” We are reaching a point where it may cost more for [the Department of Business and Professional Regulation] to regulate this industry than the state collects in taxes from these industries. “”
A few tracks might remain open – at least for awhile. But again, this is a great step in the right direction, if the Florida legislature completes this process.
This is not the right step it will put millions of people out of jobs. If they just decided to put casinos at the tracks then they would be making enough to cover everything plus more. Also think about what will happen to all of those dogs when the kennels cant afford to run it anymore, millions of dogs can not be adopted they already have a hard enough time doing that with a couple thousand. This is the wrong thing to do its just going to ruin lives, people and animals.
Actually, if all goes well, decoupling dog racing from the casinos could save the lives of thousands of greyhounds in the coming years.
And if the tracks close, it will mean fewer racing dogs being bred which will mean fewer dying in racing and fewer ending up in rescue. This will open up available homes for other homeless dogs.
And we’re not talking about millions losing their jobs. If the casinos expand beyond racing, jobs can open up there.
okay but the dogs that are already in the kennels now ( Derby Lane had 18 kennels and 30- 70 dogs in each kennel) will not all be able to get adopted so what will happen to them plus most of the kennel owners own farms that already have hundreds of dogs there what do you think will happen to all of these dogs. And people who work in the kennel that is there WHOLE life where they grew up, that is all they know and they wont get jobs in the casinos, casinos would hire people who know the trade.
oh and ps there are very very few dogs that actually die because of racing usually the kennel owner will get them fixed.
Greyhounds are dying due to track injuries and “retirement” all the time. Some are not finding homes because they are labeled as not being “cat safe.”
I once a couple of years ago finally had a racing insider admit to me the that industry does not count the dogs it kills each year in the adoption numbers. He suggested I was somehow crazy for even suggesting they count these dogs in the fictitious “90 percent” adoption rate.
In addition, when we take into account the mounting scientific evidence noting self-awareness and state of consciousness in dogs, we know that they should not be subjected to constant caging for so many hours each day.
In addition, the breeding practices of the industry are problematic. Recent studies have suggested racing greyhounds suffer osteosarcomas at a higher rate than ANY OTHER breed of dog, which is terrible considering some of the poor breeding practices engaged by other substandard breeders of other breeds.
Out of the first four greyhounds my wife and I adopted, two have faced major cancers and lost parts of their bodies to surgeries.
Three of our rescued greys came to us with emotional problems – two with severe sleep aggression. Fortunately, we decided to work with them, rather than return them to the rescue kennel.
I know one family that has dealt with three osteosarcoma cases in rescued greyhounds. We are not seeing this kind of frequency with other dog breeds.
So you see, banning greyhound racing completely now will actually save far more greyhound lives and suffering going forward. And should this happen, a massive effort will be kicked off to get the dogs out and into the hands of rescue organizations.
As for the people who will lose their jobs, the states need to help them with their job searches and assist them in transitioning to new careers.
I compare it to industries that shut down due to economic conditions or due to a product being banned for health concerns. We couldn’t have said the continue manufacturing of asbestos for home construction was needed – even with people dying from it – because we had to protect the jobs.