The dog race run around
Campaigns for and against Ballot Question No. 3 filled with discrepancies
On Nov. 4, Question No. 3 will ask voters to decide whether to ban greyhound racing in Massachusetts.
The issue has raged for years, pitting animal activists against track owners and industry execs over issues of job loss, care for the animals, adoption of retired racers and campaign ethics. The initiative barely failed in 2000. The second round has showcased a remarkable contradiction in claims by both sides.
Jobs
“There are 707 jobs at all seven racing facilities in the state. That includes horse, dog and auto. There are 100 to 249 jobs at dog racing tracks. The closer we look, the less sense these numbers [opponents are putting out] make,” Christine Dorchak, co-chairperson for the Committee to Protect Dogs and president of GREY2K USA.
“The racing commission report shows that at Raynham there are 833 jobs and at Wonderland 305. Here’s what [supporters of the ban are] doing, they’re parsing the tax numbers, looking only at W-2s, and what they don’t deal with is the huge chunk of people who get issued 1099s.” Glenn Totten, consultant for the campaign to vote ‘No’ on Question 3.
Conditions
Dorchak: “The combination of living in a cage for 20 hours a day, feeding raw meat unfit for human consumption, putting them at risk to serious injury every time they are set out to race, this is a bad recipe and not something we should tolerate any longer.”
Totten: “They’re claiming 800 injuries [since 2002]. First of all, it’s 714, and those 714 injuries are out of 465,176 greyhound starts. It’s one of the lowest injury rates of any sport, in fact it’s a lower injury rate than there is in Little League.”
The lies
Dorchak: “From the beginning this has been a campaign of distortion and dishonesty. This is a disgusting attempt to hide the cruelty of dog racing to the public.”
Totten: “They believe they hold the moral high ground and therefore the ends justify the means and they’ll say anything to get what they want. I personally don’t think that’s fair.”
