Editor’s note: This is the first in a multi-part series on ballot questions in this November’s elections.
Wonderland Greyhound Park, one of the best known local bastions of dog racing, looked more like a wasteland last Saturday evening than a bustling holy land of gamblers.
Granted it’s only 6:30 p.m., but many parking spots are still available near the entrance and the “Wonderbus,” a parking lot shuttle-bus clad in peeling red paint, stands idle.
Other than the high-pitched squeals, almost a whining, of the kenneled greyhounds, there is no sound — not even from the two women bearing signs emblazoned with “Vote Yes on 3!” and “Stop Greyhound Cruelty!” standing curbside. They stand directly across from Wonderland’s own sign, which asks patrons in electric green letters to “Vote No on 3”.
Question 3 is one of eight ballot questions voters will find themselves faced with on Election Day. If the referendum is adopted, dog races would be prohibited where betting or wagering occurs. Similar laws have been adopted in 34 other states.
To some Massachusetts residents it means one more box to check off on November 7; to others it’s the battle of a lifetime.
“This is Gettysburg! It’s a big fight for both sides” says Carey Theil, Director of Media and Research for GREY2K, the volunteer group intent on ending Greyhound racing in Massachusetts, which gathered 150,000 signatures statewide to get Question 3 on the ballot.
The stakes are high. On one side lies the end of a 65-year-old industry once brimming with money and glamour as well as jobs and livelihoods. The other guarantees the end of what some call animal torture.
According to GREY2K, an estimated 20,000 two to three-year-old greyhounds are killed annually by euthanasia, gassing, medical experimentation, gunshot, bludgeoning, abandonment, starvation, electrocution or are sold for coyote hunting when they are no longer fast enough to race. The group also claims that while at the racetracks the dogs are kenneled for 18-22 hours a day, muzzled constantly and fed raw or diseased meat.
The Massachusetts Chapter of the American Greyhound Council disputes GREY2K’s claims of animal abuse, stating that, “no violations of animal welfare regulations have been documented.” If Question 3 passes, thousands of track employees will loose their jobs and the state will loose tax revenue.
Kitty Granquist, sporting a cutoff blue T-shirt featuring several greyhounds and the slogan “Save Greyhounds” as well as three pins depicting emaciated dogs, is tonight’s lead protester and founded GREY2K two years ago.
“We’re not fanatics!” she insists, holding her head high as a minivan full of “woofing” college-aged men enthusiastically cruises by. “We have to do something about the cruelty and killing inherent in this industry.”
Even if race track employees are laid off, new jobs will be available, Granquist said.
“Gov. Cellucci, a gambling man himself, says it’s a powerhouse economy, that anyone who wants a job can get one. Personally I think that if someone can’t find a job in six months they aren’t really trying,” she said.
If the referendum is adopted, the racetracks would not be closed until June 1, 2001.
According to Theil, former employees would be supported by the racetracks’ trust funds, formed from taxes paid to the state. The Commonwealth gets a small percentage of the nightly handle, or a portion of the total wagers. The tracks can currently petition the state to use trust funds for renovations or other projects.
The State Racing Commission also reported that attendance at Wonderland and Massachusetts’ other greyhound park, Rayhnam/Taunton has dropped 67 percent from 1990-98, while state revenue from the parks dropped 69 percent during the same period.
The Commonwealth’s 1998 state budget lists revenue from dog racing as .0274 percent, while the Commission gave more than $1.6 million for capital improvements of track facilities and promotion of dog racing.
Dick Penn, a wrinkled and heavy-lidded 30-year veteran of Wonderland, is manning a voter registration booth tonight just inside the track’s smoky and paper strewn entrance. Penn is one of Wonderland’s 600 employees, including trainers and kennel staff, and has several questions for GREY2K.
“When jockeys whip their horses — is that a type of abuse? Why would greyhound owners not take care of their investment? What makes them money?” he asked.
Penn is also concerned for the fate of the 1,500 racetrack employees statewide. The salary of racetrack employees, according to the State Racing Commission, is $14,400 a year, almost $3,000 below federal poverty levels for a family of four.
Most of the public, Penn said, doesn’t understand greyhound racing.
“If people are educated [about greyhound racing] I don’t think it [Question 3] will pass,” he said.
Even if live dog racing is banned, Penn will retain his position due to simulcasts — which he is certain will be approved. Simulcast betting would allow patrons at one venue to bet on televised races at other tracks. This form of betting would be legal if Question 3 passed, so long as the race occurs outside the state boundaries.
Clutching voter registration leaflets, Penn looks around and chortles, “Next they’ll be after horses!” Like the American Greyhound Council and National Greyhound Council, Penn denies that any case of greyhound abuse has been documented. GREY2K, however, points out 18 cases of abuse. The instances range in severity.
The Brockton Enterprise reported on July 2 that a 55-pound female was crushed to death during a race at Rayhnam/Taunton Park. The Boston Globe documented six other reports of abuse, including two separate fires that resulted in 95 greyhound deaths. In two other cases, hundreds of greyhounds were shipped to South America racetracks where 60 starved to death and others exhibited signs of injury.
Colorado State University and the United States Department of Agriculture intake records reveal that Greyhound industry members donated 2,600 greyhounds to dubious fates from 1995-98, 100 of which came from Massachusetts. One-third of the dogs were used in teaching labs and then destroyed while the others were killed within 24 hours of arrival, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
The owners of Massachusetts’ two racetracks, Wonderland and Rayhnam/Taunton, have teamed up to launch a massive multi-million dollar advertising campaign to keep the races going, and GREY2K is determined to keep pace. While their budget is significantly smaller, they do have celebrity endorsements from Jack Lemmon and Lyn Redgrave on their side. More than 100 organizations from the World Society for the Protection of Animals to the Cape Cod Vegetarians endorse GREY2K, organizers said.
Less than a minute before one of the evening’s many races, three men stand outside watching the willowy dogs being led to their places. When Swifty, the stuffed rabbit that lures the dogs in chase around the track, screeches into motion the dogs bound forward. In a flash a mottled brown greyhound wearing number 8 has won. His outdoor audience? About 15.
Jimmy Hobbs, 23, a D’Angelo’s manager from Boston is at Wonderland for, “the first time in a long time.” He’s won $84 dollars so far this evening and is upset to hear GREY2K’s accusations.
“I don’t know what they do back there [in the kennels], but if it’s hurting the dogs it should stop. We usually go to the horse races anyways,” he said.
Be the first to comment on this article!