Business
Bill to Unleash Greyhounds Clears Senate Committee
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Senate Bill 382 cleared the Regulated Industries Committee on a 6-4 vote. The measure, by Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, would allow dog tracks to discontinue greyhound racing while maintaining their gaming licenses.
Prior to the final vote, Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, with support from the Greyhound Breeders Association, introduced an amendment to end state subsidies for tracks that halted racing.
Sachs called the amendment "unfriendly" and a greyhound group, Grey2K USA, branded it a "poison pill." Sachs said the amendment, if enacted with her bill, would lead to a precipitous closing of tracks.
"This is a dying business. We want to phase it out slowly," the senator said.
Jack Cory, representing greyhound breeders, countered that SB 382 amounts to "a $7 million tax break for tracks to close down racing and move elsewhere."
Sachs said her bill, which would allow nonrunning tracks to sell their state credits to those that do, is a market-driven solution for the struggling industry.
"Tracks that wish to race will continue to race," she said.
Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, discounted Cory's concern about relocations. She noted that state law limits a licensee's move to a 30-mile radius within the same county.
Current law requires Florida's 13 dog tracks to maintain an annual racing schedule as a condition of keeping their gaming licenses. But amid dwindling attendance at live races and rising competition in gaming, the once-healthy tracks say their profits have suffered.
Grey2K USA, a Massachusetts-based organization advocating for the protection of greyhounds, said Sachs' bill will help to phase out dog racing in Florida.
"On behalf of greyhound advocates around the world, GREY2K USA applauds the Senate committee in approving a common-sense measure that will give greyhounds the second chance they have been waiting for," said Christine Dorchak, president and general counsel.
"This vote is the first big step in ending the cruelty of dog racing in Florida and we are optimistic that the decoupling bill will pass in the House as well," Dorchak said.
But Cory's Greyhound group says it's most concerned about the livelihoods of the 280 breeders and 2,700 employees associated with tracks and kennel clubs around the state.
"That's a $50 million economic impact," Cory said.
Reach Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
Comments (8)
I love how one bad apple has ruined it for everyone. And G2K's members are a perfect example of that lonely kid who needed something to belong too...I feel more sad for them than the greyhounds.
Get a life.
As far as the breeders go, they are inhumane from the get-go. They know the lives these gentle creatures will live, yet they continue to over-breed them, killing thousands of Greys long before they even have the chance to reach the track. And THEY are the lucky ones, never having to live loveless lives, trapped inside tiny cages, muzzled continuously, forced to race in conditions which continuously cause death and horrific injuries, abandoned when they stop making money, fed 4D meat, or starved, often to death.
Immoral industries should be forced to die the same horrid deaths that so many hundreds of thousands of Greys have been forced to die (and that is in this country alone).
2) Please provide the names of inhumane breeders
3) You say Greyhounds are "forced" to race. Are you saying they do not enjoy running?
Right on the money. This group Grey2K should be investigated by authorities. Nobody from this group has EVER been inside a greyhound racing kennel and naive people are sending them close to $400,000 dollars a year. They LIE about everything.
They'll tell you that the dogs are locked up 20 hours a day but they won't tell you that the dogs sleep for at least 12-15 hours a day just like they do when they become pets.
They used to claim that they were getting all these tracks around the country shut down when the real truth was that those tracks were shutting due to financial problems and Grey2K had absolutely nothing to do with it.
A trainer says she lets the dogs out 6 times a day and they post all over the internet that the dogs are never let out.
These people lie to get donations. They are a scam. Christine Dorkchak's only job is this group. She's a nutjob.
Hooray for this legislation and it's high time that our elected officials whose job it is to speak for us start listening and help pass this intelligent and forward thinking legislation.
Seems that it's a question of ethics, morality and humaneness. Sadly many humans feel that animals and nature are there just for their pleasure to use and abuse as they wish. Greyhound racing industry is a filthy, cruel business and only makes money for the gambling industry, a few nasty people who are happy to accept that thousands of greyhounds die every year to keep their sad and destructive cruel habits in place.
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