I wrote this and some of it may not be relevant to your particular country since some things are different from country to country and other things are the same. An Advocate By Dick Ciampa An advocate is someone who is for or against a policy or cause, and advocates are usually all in for their cause. If you are an advocate against hunting then you are usually against all hunting. Advocates against hunting don't think it is okay to hunt rabbits and squirrels and not okay to hunt deer and bear. They are all in. The same is true if you are for hunting. You believe that you should be able to hunt anything that is legal and hunt according to the rules and regulations set up by your state. Advocates are also all in to retain their right to hunt everything that is legal in their state. Hunters are advocates for hunting. True advocates are all in 100 percent of the time. That brings us to Grey2K, an organization that claims to be advocating for the protection of greyhounds. But, are they really advocates for the greyhounds? Crate Size Since their beginning Grey2K has claimed the track crates that house greyhounds are to small and are cruel and inhumane. Grey2K claims to protect the greyhounds through the legislative process, yet in seventeen years they have never tried to pass a law to make the crates larger. In fact, Grey2K, the supposed protector of greyhounds, did just the opposite. In 2013 they advocated for, and helped pass the Animal Welfare Act in Florida. Who isn't for animal welfare? Grey2K isn't since that legislation made the minimum crate size SMALLER. Kennel crates are 42" to 48" deep, 32" to 34" high, and 30" to 32" wide. Depending on jurisdiction, these crates exceed the state required minimum size. You will see here: EXTERNAL LINK that Grey2K helped pass a minimum crate size in Florida that is 36" deep, 32" high and 24" wide. Using the smallest dimensions of a kennel crate, those used at the tracks offer 23.33 cubic feet of space. The Grey2K minimum crate size of 2013 provides 16 cubic feet of space. True advocates would never accept the new SMALLER crate size. EVER. Every organization that advocates for or against something has a few basic things that form the core of their advocacy. For Grey2K the "inhumane size of the crates that the greyhounds could neither stand or turn around in" was a Grey2K's core value and talking point from day one. No true advocate would ever deviate from their core values. It makes you wonder what Grey2K is really advocating for. Makes you wonder if Grey2K is really advocating for your donations and not the greyhounds. Consistency of Values and Purpose A true advocate would be for a ban on all greyhound racing not just greyhounds running in pari-mutuel betting races. A true advocate for the protection of greyhounds would therefore want to ban greyhounds from doing any kind of lure coursing since dogs can and do get injured lure coursing. A true advocate would see no difference between a greyhound getting hurt on an oval track or a grassy lure coursing field. If you are an advocate for the greyhounds then you need to be all in. So why would Grey2K "advocate" only for greyhounds that you can place bets on and have no regard for the health and welfare of greyhounds that run with no bets placed on them? The answer starts with the Board of Directors. Grey2K co-founder and board member Carey Theil sits on the board of the anti-gambling organization Stop Predatory Gambling. Grey2K board member Tom Gray is a senior advisor to the anti-gambling organization Stop Predatory Gambling. Co-founder and now board member Emeritus Jill Hopfenbeck lure courses Whippets so you can't ban something that a co-founder is part of. Next many greyhound adopters lure course their dogs. You can't ban what many of your donors love to do. The money train has to stay on track. Lastly Grey2K isn't an advocate for greyhounds, they advocate for your donations under the guise of advocating for greyhounds. Salaries now make up 37.3% of expenses and Grey2K's new offices raised their rent from a little over $8000 a year to over $23,000 a year. Salaries and office rental now make up 41.3% of what is donated. Drugs . At time of writing in May of 2017, Grey2K is showing people a greyhound named Flying Tidalwave, the 46th greyhound who has tested positive for cocaine. They place heavy emphasis on the number 46. Trainer's license revoked after greyhounds test positive for cocaine at Derby Lane What they dont provide is context to this number, so 46 is just a number thrown into the air to create the impression that drugs are a huge problem with racing greyhounds. You may be sure, if the numbers proved that 46 represented a very high percentage of greyhounds running with cocaine in their system, Grey2K would provide those details and probably have a fancy graph showing you. There were 29,006 racing programs or cards run in Florida from July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2016. Not all cards have 15 races so I used 12 races per card which translates to 348,792 races. There are 2 dogs tested per race for a total of 697,584 dogs tested. In all of those races, you have a total of 46 positives for 0.00659% of greyhounds racing in 8 years. While 0.00% would be best, does it seem like this minuscule number is the huge problem the greyhound protectors want you to believe it is? A little research will tell you that in people, cocaine is a drug that spikes up and goes down pretty quickly. If you smoke crack, which obviously the dogs don't, the spike occurs in about 15 minutes and is gone just as fast. If you do a line or ingest it, it takes a little longer for the high to occur, typically about 30 to 40 minutes. All greyhounds racing on a given day are placed in a state-controlled area at least 1.5 hours before the first race. No one from the kennel can have any contact with them once they have been handed over. Looking at timing, if you really want to stretch this, if a dog was in the 1st race and someone gave him some cocaine just before turning him over to the state, perhaps it would be possible to have some effect on the 1st race, but Flying Tidalwave was in the 6th race, some 3 hours after he was turned over to the state controlled area and placed in his crate. He finished 4th so evidently cocaine was not a very good performance enhancer, especially considering in the races before this one he was 3rd, 1st, 2nd and 2nd. He would have been tested for the win since all winners are tested along with a random dog, so he had no cocaine in his system for the win, but did for the 4th. Similarly, the other dogs in the story finished 4th, 4th, 6th, 6th 8th and 1st. Flying Tidalwave would test positive twice, once on Jan. 11th where he finished 4th and again later, on Jan. 21th when he won. In between those two races he ran 2nd and either wasn't tested or his test was negative. Looking at all these results, it is hard to find any incentive to deliberately administer cocaine. Safety If your purpose is to protect greyhounds, even if it is just racing greyhounds, then you should support legslation that protects them. In 2014 Sen. Smith and Rep. Rader co-sponsored a bill that proposed two major track improvements that addressed greyhound safety. Smith and Rader co-sponsor legislation While track owners, and not the kennel owners, are responsible for the safety of the track, the Florida Greyhound Association along with Sen. Smith and Rep. Rader proposed a bill in that would have all tracks in Florida install a breakaway lure, which had been developed and installed by a couple of track already, and a cover to be put on the rail to protect the greyhounds and people from being electrocuted, a rare event but one with tragic consequences. As a group that claims to be the protectors of greyhounds you would think Grey2K would be all for these safety features, however, they were not. Grey2K was more interested in legislation to decouple greyhound racing than the actual safety of the greyhounds. Both bills failed and racing went on as usual, however, a few of the tracks embraced the safety measures put forth by the Smith/Rader safety bill and put in the breakaway lure and safety guard on the rail. The great advocates for the greyhounds failed the greyhounds, they turned their back on the greyhounds though safety is something Grey2K has complained about for years and years to get donations. Shameful. Numbers Below is a list of states and the year greyhound racing was introduced to that state. Any state that allows lure coursing allows greyhound racing. What is banned in many of those state is pari-mutuel wagering and not the actual racing. CA 1919 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. Lure coursing legal. EXTERNAL LINK FL 1921 Betting legal IL 1921 Pari-mutuel betting "Not Specified." Illinois Gambling Laws - FindLaw , Lure coursing legal OK 1921 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. EXTERNAL LINK Lure coursing legal. Oklahoma Racing and Coursing Association KS 1921 Betting legal NJ 1922 Pari-mutuel betting illegal, Lure coursing legal. Performance Canine Association | You are invited to participate in sprint and lure coursing KY 1925 Pari-mutual betting illegal. EXTERNAL LINK Lure coursing legal. EXTERNAL LINK Arkansas 1926 Betting legal Louisiana 1926 pari-mutual betting illegal. Lure coursing legal. Creole Coursing Club of Louisiana Missouri 1926 Pari-mutual betting illegal EXTERNAL LINK Montana 1926 Betting legal unless this has been changed. Don't know what year this was written. EXTERNAL LINK Ohio 1926 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. Lure coursing legal. Lure Coursing Let Em Run! | A Place for Paws WV 1926 Betting legal Colorado 1927 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. EXTERNAL LINK Lure coursing legal. Coursing and Lure Coursing Georgia 1927 Pari-mutuel wagering illegal on both horses and dogs. EXTERNAL LINK Wisconsin 1927 Betting legal Indiana 1928 Pari-mutuel betting is legal in the state of Indiana, though greyhound racing doesnt exist within the state, but it can be seen at a handful of off-track betting establishments. Lure coursing legal. EXTERNAL LINK Michigan 1928 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. Michigan Gambling - Live Casinos, Gambling Sites & Legal Status Lure coursing legal. EXTERNAL LINK NY 1928 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. Lure coursing legal. EXTERNAL LINK Texas 1928 Betting legal Minnesota 1930 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. Minnesota Gambling in 2017 - Legality, Future Status and Top Sites Lure coursing legal. EXTERNAL LINK New Mexico 1930 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. Lure coursing legal. EXTERNAL LINK Penn. 1930 Pari-mutual betting illegal. Untitled Document Lure coursing legal. Security Check Required Virginia 1930 Pari-mutuel wagering illegal. Virginia Gambling Laws - FindLaw Lure coursing legal. SHOT Home Page Oregon 1933 Betting legal Utah 1933 Pari-mutuel wagering illegal on both horses and dogs. EXTERNAL LINK Lure coursing legal. EXTERNAL LINK Mass. 1934 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. Massachusetts Casinos & Gambling Laws - USA State Casinos Lure coursing legal. Gazehounds of New England Washington St 1934 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. EXTERNAL LINK _Initiative_258_(1972) Lure coursing legal. Cascade Coursing Club South Carolina 1937 Pari-mutuel wagering illegal on both horses and dogs. EXTERNAL LINK Arizona 1942 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. EXTERNAL LINK Lure coursing legal. Arizona Adopt A Greyhound Inc. Iowa 1942 Betting legal Mississippi 1947 Pari-mutuel wagering illegal on both horses and dogs. EXTERNAL LINK N. Carolina 1948 Pari-mutuel betting illegal on both horses and dogs. EXTERNAL LINK S. Dakota 1949 Betting legal EXTERNAL LINK Alabama 1973 Betting legal NH 1973 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. Lure coursing legal. NE Sighthound Performance Clubs Conn. 1976 Betting legal Vermont 1976 Pari-mutuel betting illegal. Vermont Online Gambling Laws | VT Online Gambling Laws Lure coursing legal RI 1977 Pari-mutuel betting illegal Nevada 1981 Pari-mutuel betting illegal EXTERNAL LINK Lure coursing legal. Coursing and Lure Coursing Idaho 1988 Ban on all breed of dogs racing so no lure coursing. So there were 41 states and 3 countries that had or still have greyhound racing. So 9 states never had greyhound racing.. The nine states that never had greyhound racing. Alaska Betting on horses is illegal, can't find info on greyhounds. Lure coursing legal. Lure coursing -- a unique sport in the Valley Hawaii All kinds of gambling is illegal in Hawaii including the lottery. Lure coursing is legal. Hawaii Lure Coursing Club N. Dakota Can't find anything that says pari-mutuel betting on greyhounds is legal or illegal. Lure coursing no information. Wyoming Can't find anything that says pari-mutuel betting on greyhounds is legal or illegal. Lure coursing is legal. EXTERNAL LINK Nebraska Can't find anything that says pari-mutuel betting is legal or illegal. Nebraska Gambling Laws - FindLaw Lure coursing no information. Tennessee Can't find anything that says pari-mutuel betting is legal or illegal. Lure coursing legal. AKC Lure Coursing - Tennessee Delaware Can't find anything that says pari-mutuel betting is legal or illegal. Lure coursing no information. Maine Greyhound racing is illegal. Title 8, 301: Prohibition Lure coursing no information. Maryland Can't find anything that says pari-mutuel betting is legal or illegal. Lure coursing legal. EXTERNAL LINK If lure coursing is legal then greyhound racing is legal except in AZ where chasing a mechanical lure is illegal. I don't know what the definition of a "mechanical lure" is since in lure coursing a plastic bag is pulled on a pulley system that is driven by a motor and a lure operator. Something to think about The good thing about living in the U.S. is you can believe anything you want from the earth is flat to no one ever landed on the moon to Grey2K is advocating for the greyhounds. You can believe 46 positive cases out of 697,584 tests is cause for alarm. A true greyhound advocate would do a lot for adoption, yet Grey2K does next to nothing. Grey2K takes 37.3% of your donations in salaries or over $226,000. Imagine what that $226,000 could do for the greyhounds. The next time you see numbers just thrown out into the air ask Grey2K compared to what? They know the context, but sometimes there may be a reason they won't share it. It would hurt their advocacy for your money. There is no "Donate' button here as I'm not looking for your money. Copyright 2017
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