South Tucson voters will be asked to vote on a change to the city code pertaining to the treatment of dogs in the municipality.
Proposition 401, the Tucson Dog Protection Act, will make it illegal to feed a dog certain types of raw meat, ban the use of anabolic steroids and mandate that dogs may spend a maximum of 18 hours a day in a specific sized cage.
The measure, while applicable to all dogs in South Tucson, was mainly intended to regulate the care of dogs at the Tucson Greyhound Park, said Susan Via, chair of the Tucson Dog Protection initiative.
The track houses an estimated 400 to 500 dogs, said Tom Taylor, CEO of the Tucson Greyhound Park.
The animals at the Tucson Greyhound Park are kept in good conditions that are in line with current law, Taylor said.
The first change to the code regards feeding dogs “4D meat,” or meat from diseased, dying, dead or disabled animals. Via argues that this meat has been shown to cause gastrointestinal diseases in animals that can potentially spread to handlers. Cooking 4D meat would reduce the risk of human and animal disease.
There have been no incidents of illness at the park due to meat and this type of meat is suitable for a dog’s digestive system, said Taylor. The meat also represents a small portion of the animals’ diet, only about a pound a day, added Taylor.
The second change mandates that dogs must be able to run free from their cages at least six hours of every day. Keeping the dogs in small cages does not allow them time to socialize, Via said.
The dogs at the park are let out four times a day, according to Taylor, which is in line with industry-wide dog park regulations.
The time they are allowed out is short, usually only to relieve themselves, Via said.
The third change concerns anabolic steroids, which are used at dog tracks to prevent females from going into heat. Proponents of the proposition state that the dogs can simply be separated by gender when they go into heat, as they used to be in racing before steroid use, Via said.
If the proposition passes, Taylor said, the track would have no problem cooking the meat and allowing the dogs out for the mandated six hours.
But banning steroids would cause chaos.
Separating the animals, he said, would not be effective.
“If you live within two houses of a dog in heat, your dog would know it,” Taylor said. “If I had 250 females in heat, every dog in Tucson would be in my back gate.”
The track maintains that they treat the dogs as athletes. “If it was helping the dogs we’d do it,” Taylor said. “It’s like a stock car racer, you think it’d help him to put bad fuel in his car?”
But according to Via, supporters of the proposition, which includes over 100 veterinarians, argue that the track should reinvest some of their profits into better treatment of the dogs.
Ultimately, it’s up to South Tucson voters to decide.
