Standard Times: End Greyhound Racing

The Standard Times wrote one of the most powerful editorials I've ever read on this November's Question Three that would end Greyhound Dog Racing. It's one of the few newspaper articles I've ever read that's been brutally honest on the job numbers - as honest as I've been on this blog, even, using the facts and figures provided to us by the Massachusetts Department of Labor and US Census. A few readers will remember my blog on the race track dog numbers.

But the article recognizes that there's more at stake. Sure, it's important to rebuke the false claims of Raynham and Wonderland, but what's more important is the fact that there's serious racing collisions happening at both facilities leaving dogs badly injured or worse. This is not NASCAR - the dogs don't benefit from the protection of thousands of pounds of steel - but they do crash into other dogs, the ground and walls going in excess of 40 miles an hour or more. That type of collision, with just about anything, is violent. The Standard Times gets it.

This was a well written, powerful editorial that really took the racing industry to task. People should not only read it, but also forward it to friends. This battle is important. It speaks to us, as a society, how we treat those who can't defend themselves. These dogs are battered and bruised every day, only to go home and spend 20 hours in a kennel they can barely move around in. The one common thing they all know in life is not human companionship, but the cold, hard steel of their cages. We can do better.