THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502160011 SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL TYPE: Editorial LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
A bill to ban greyhound racing in Virginia sailed through both houses recently and awaits the governor's signature.
We recommend that he pat a greyhound and sign the bill.
The American Greyhound Council, which supports dog racing, boasts that the number of greyhounds euthanized annually has been reduced from about 26,700 in 1991 to 16,000 in 1993. That number counts the racing dogs killed around age 4 or 5 because they are no longer fast enough to finish in the money, but it fails to include all the puppies slaughtered at breeding farms because they lack promise of ever running fast enough to place. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture records, hundreds of greyhounds are sold each year to universities and biomedical companies in California alone.
Gay Latimer of Virginia Beach, the Virginia representative of the National Greyhound Adoption Program, said only one of eight greyhound puppies will reach a track by age 18 months. She said penned females at breeding farms may have three litters a year each, and most of the puppies will be killed after failing speed or agility tests. By some estimates, 50,000 greyhounds are killed each year.
Then there are the live rabbits, kittens and guinea pigs dangled from poles so the dogs will give chase.
The national adoption organization's Tidewater chapter (phone number 486-7956) has helped 112 greyhounds gain adoption in this area. That organization sent a 300-name petition to the legislature urging the ban on dog racing. Latimer said every senator and delegate received at least one phone call from her organization.
In Suffolk, political neophyte Evelyn P. Jones, 49, worked two years toward the ban on dog racing. Currently the only state with such a ban is Maine.
We can find a million things to bet on. We don't need tens of thousands of these magnificent and sensitive creatures to die each year for our amusement. by CNB