Greyhound Industry & Compassion

I posted this on my Facebook Notes page.  It's something I've been wanting to articulate for awhile, so I'm going to put it here, too.

There is a heated discussion going on elsewhere (well, there always is) between the pro- and anti-racing folk.  I also posted my thoughts, and was then called a series of names ("cockhead"" and "dropkick" were both new ones to me), and accused of passing judgement from the sidelines with no understanding of what's real in the industry. My motivation for writing this note is not to toot my own horn, but to lay out my involvement and experience, to give the credibility to my words that accusations of ignorance and hypocrisy intend to deny.

I count many industry and pro-race people as friends, and have also worked with adoption groups on several continents to the best of my limited abilities.  I have adopted 4 greyhounds since I "discovered" them in 2004, not shying away from the special needs dogs.  Three of the four came to us damaged by inbreeding, by race injury, by horrific lack of care, and by pure accident.  Two have died already; too soon.  We're now in a position to be able to foster, and are looking forward to our first foster girl in December.  

I'm a complete vegetarian (vegan) because of my deeply held beliefs, but my husband, most of my friends and all of my family are omnivores.  Compassion is the concept I try to live by and try to share.  I applaud and encourage everyone making whatever moves towards compassion they can make, understanding that big changes are usually made incrementally.  For me, that means towards an understanding that animals share this world with us, as well as the capacity to feel, to love, to play, and the rights to self-determination that we presume for ourselves.  

I'll refrain from posting the horrifying photographs that are easy to find of dead greyhounds in piles, of racing disasters like the photo that started the discussion I referred to, of dumped and cadaverous greyhounds shivering in a shelter's concrete cell.  We've all seen them.  No one denies that abuses in the industry exist; the argument is how prevalent they are, and if the industry is justifiable despite them.  My philosophy is clear on this: No.  No industry that has the capacity to completely control another being is justified, and power like that corrupts the human soul.  Humans can become inured to the suffering inherent in the systems they become invested in.  While there are many who do their best to be ethical towards their animals, in the end, there are sick, injured, leftover, abused dogs that someone else has to deal with.  The care of the retired hound, even under the best of circumstances, usually becomes someone else's responsibility.  

Of course there are accidents and abuse that happen in adoptive homes (as one of my pro-race friends pointed out).  That's part of the overall problem.  There are too many dogs, no one can predict or control what will happen to them as they pass from hand to hand.  Some may live luxurious lives to ripe old ages (knock on wood!), others may end up as lab experiments or bait for training fighting dogs, or just get loose and hit by cars.  All because they started their lives as products, with a short shelf-life.  

The argument made of "the dogs love to run" doesn't justify breeding them as running machines.  They are not machines.  They are living beings.  They didn't choose their genes, they didn't choose their abilities, they didn't choose their owners.  That's the crux of the problem: they have no choices.  

Of course there are plenty of other animals in need of our attentions and rescue (race horses, meat and dairy and fiber animals, pets ... ).  I'm also working in those areas, as are so many.  Humans have a long way to evolve away from creating situations that others need to mop up.

My hope is not to throw gasoline on a bonfire.  My hope is that compassion will grow in each of us, so that we see each other's challenges and also the consequences of all our actions, both to each other and to the animals we ALL claim to love.