Janet Forrer, a doctor of veterinary medicine at Sunrise Pet Clinic in Tucson, recalls the time a rescue group brought her one of the many rescued greyhounds from the Tucson Greyhound Park after it could no longer race. After taking one look at the radiograph, she knew right away the dog had a bone tumor.
“Bone tumors are extremely painful,” she said. “I’m thinking of this
dog sitting in a cage in extreme pain while he is being neglected. It
really shook me up.”
Cases like this have become all too familiar among the dogs at the Tucson Greyhound Park.
The Tucson Dog Protection Act, Proposition 401, which passed in November 2008, stipulates how Tucson Greyhound Park should treat and care for the dogs that race there. Months after it passed, advocates for animal rights say little is being done and inhumane conditions still exist at the park.
Tucson Greyhound Park refused to comment, which didn’t surprise Susan Via, the chairperson for the Tucson Dog Protection Act, saying there is a “sorry history for that place for animal neglect.”
Via, a proud pet owner of greyhounds, said she and over 100 veterinarians who supported the act struggled with the idea of how to make things better for the more than 500 greyhounds that race at the park.The continuous confinement of the dogs, the practice of feeding the dogs raw and possibly diseased 4D meat (the lowest quality) and the administration of male testosterone and other hormones to female dogs were the three things Via said the proposition wanted to address.
“We hoped to educate people, and we think we did,” Via said of passing the proposition. But aside from education, Via believes the park is still “thumbing its nose at the law” by not following the conditions of the protection act.
Forrer, who was asked by Via to review the medical aspects of the proposition, also said the park is being too dismissive of the problem.
“The track never denied any of our suspicions,” Forrer said. She points to a city council meeting in the spring of 2008 where the track manager Tom Taylor was rather forthright about how the dogs are treated there.
“Tom Taylor said, ‘Yes we do dose the dogs, and yes we do feed them 4D meat.’ All the things we heard through various sources were confirmed.”
However, South Tucson City Manager Enrique Serna said he is “not aware of any laws being broken,” in regards to the treatment of the dogs.
One of the major obstacles the act has faced is the difficult task of policing the park to make sure it follows the law. The track isn’t open to the public, and Via said, “they set it up that way. They don’t want you to see what’s going on.”
But concerning any improprieties at the track, Serna said, “I haven’t heard any complaints.”
While the city of South Tucson has jurisdiction over the park, as it is located within the city limits, ultimately the responsibility to enforce the law is on Pima Animal Control Center, which is a county-run entity. Serna also cited a lack of available resources to deal with this kind of problem.
“We’re a small jurisdiction, dealing with crime on the streets,” he said. “I don’t want to sound flippant, I want to do what’s right, what’s in the best interest of all people. We have to make decisions about what we can and can’t enforce.”
Serna believes the issue is more complex than those who proposed it led the city council to believe. He said when the act was proposed it “sounded well-intentioned, about protecting all dogs,” but when the proposition was put on the table it did not include much of the language and stipulations that exist in it today, “and they were disingenuous about that,” he said.
Probably the most complex issue at hand is the practice of giving the female dogs steroids or hormones, something Serna said is perfectly legal.
“No ordinance can tell a registered vet when he can’t or can give a shot.”
However, Serna also said, “I’m not going to assume a professionally licensed vet is going to do something immoral.”
Like Serna, Forrer also said, “I can’t imagine why someone who has been to veterinary school would do such a thing,” but also said she has been in contact with two local doctors who told her they administered shots to dogs in the past. Those same doctors have since been reprimanded for giving those shots off their records, Forrer said.
Being a veterinarian, Forrer knows firsthand the negative effects hormones can have on female dogs.
“We know for some females, they have enlarged vulva,” or “ulceration of the skin.” Forrer also said the drugs could have an adverse effect on the dogs’ hearts as well.
Forrer points to the long-term studies done on the negative effects of steroids in humans, something that hasn’t been done with dogs. She said you don’t have to be a scientist or a doctor to figure out if they’re bad for humans, they’re probably bad for the dogs.
What does Via believe it will take for the park to finally follow the rules?
“Tucson Greyhound Park should be shut down,” she said. “Arizona right now is subsidizing animal cruelty.”
