Greyhound tracks remain cruel spot for animal rights

Gary Guccione is wrong in his Dec. 2 letter defending the cruel so-called sport of greyhound racing. Relying on the rhetoric of front groups, his allegations are unfounded and incorrect.

The Colorado secretary of state recently ended an inquiry into our fundraising with a favorable finding. Every dollar donated by generous Americans is used to help animals and to advance our work to protect them from cruelty and abuse.

It is not surprising that someone who defends this cruelty uses the same ad hominem attacks that are used by other animal abuse industries like factory farming and puppy mills use when trying to distract from the issue at hand: cruelty.

Mr. Guccione is hoping to distract from the facts that greyhounds are kept in cages up to 22 hours a day and, on average, a dog dies on a track every three days in Florida. The dogs are fed what is known as four D meat diet, being fed the "dead, diseased, down or dying cows," hardly nutritious or healthy.

In September, a greyhound tested positive for cocaine at the Sanford Orlando Kennel Club, and let's not forget about the 2010 case against Ronald Williams, who served prison time for abandoning a greyhound kennel, resulting in many of the dogs starving to death.

Many racetracks have expressed their desires to get out of the dying business of dog racing, and it is time for legislation to be passed that allows them do so. It's not the role of government to force businesses to conduct dog races when they don't want to.

Public opposition to dog racing is also increasing due to humane concerns such as confinement and injuries, and it's one activity that we need to put in our nation's history books.

Kate MacFall, Florida State director, Humane Society of the United States Tallahassee

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Greyhound tracks remain cruel spot for animal rights ."