The Harsh Reality of Greyhound Racing

These are lives, not commodities.

The greyhound’s natural speed and graceful nature means that they are the perfect dog for racing. These beautiful animals have been exploited for thousands of years for the benefit of humans and can be traced back to ancient Egypt.

These events are still taking place in Great Britain, Australia, and certain parts of America despite efforts to shut the industry down once and for all.

These greyhounds used for racing are treated like machines and are subjected to lifelong abuse and neglect. They are constantly muzzled and kept in tiny cramped cages, some so small that don’t even leave room for them to turn around, for most of the day, and the only time they are able to “get out” is when they are running on the track for a few minutes.

They are also fed low-quality meat, known in animal cruelty prevention circles as "4-D" meat. This is meat taken from dying or deceased livestock and can be filled with pathogenic microorganisms, making the dog vulnerable to illnesses and sickness which may be contagious.

Many also suffer from fleas, ticks, and mites as basic veterinary care is not provided and these dogs never or rarely receive any affection or companionship.

However, even if these dogs are taken care of and not abused off the track, many accidents and dangers can and will still happen during the race.

Greyhound racing is undoubtedly dangerous for the animal. All dogs race without lanes and they race in difficult and harsh conditions such as mud, rain, and extreme weather conditions that can range from sub-zero temperatures to sweltering heat of above a hundred degrees despite their lack of body fat and thin coat which makes them extremely sensitive to heat and cold.

Thousands of greyhounds are documented every year having sustained terrible injuries or have died from sickness. Dogs can suffer from broken legs and necks, fractured skulls, spinal cord paralysis, heart attacks, heatstroke, and even electrocution when they try to bite the track equipment.

But with money, comes greed. The natural speed of these greyhounds is never enough and sometimes these dogs are even given illegal drugs, such as cocaine, and chemicals, such as Viagra and anabolic steroids, to make them run faster and more energetic.

However, the penalties for trainers and owners caught going these deadly and illicit acts to their dogs are very lenient. These penalties usually consist of disqualifications of the dogs, suspensions, fines, and sometimes only a simple warning not to do it again.

Greyhounds can also die during transportation, from one racetrack to another. It is common for a truck to carry up to 60 greyhounds, with two to three dogs crammed into a single crate. The floor of the truck is then lined with ice rather than air conditioning for the dogs. Temperatures may even reach up to over a hundred degrees on a hot summer day which can be deadly to the greyhounds as they are not able to sweat to cool themselves.

It doesn’t get better for these dogs when they “retire” either. When the greyhounds do not make money for their owners or are deemed unfit to continue racing due to injury, only a small number of greyhounds are re-homed while others are sent to various other forms of torture or to be killed in inhumane ways when they have not even reached half of their expected lifespan.

Some retired greyhounds are sold to animal testing labs for experimentation where they are cruelly tortured both mentally and physically. Cramped into even tinier cages and only taken out each day to be tortured in painful tests. Many of these dogs are then killed after the experiments.

These unwanted greyhounds that are no longer needed will also be neglected and locked away, having no contact with the outside world along with food and water where they will starve to death as owners and trainers no longer see a need to keep them alive.

Many others are also disposed of and abandoned in cruel ways, such as electrocuting them, or hacking off their ears and dumping the dogs, and some are sold to breeding farms.

There are many ways to put an end to this cruel industry and the first step is to never support greyhound racing and never betting on greyhounds. You can also get involved with protests and support petitions and campaigns against this industry.