| Greyhound Protection League
home 1996 COMPLAINT REGARDING TUCSON KENNEL CONDITIONSJul 14, 2005 - *Note: The following letter of complaint references the primary kennel facility for Tucson race dogs. The facility had been used for many years prior to the filing of the complaint and continued to be used for many years afterward with no significant changes ever being enforced by the Arizona Department of Racing. It is the same facility from which greyhounds were confiscated in 2005. Attorney General Grant Woods Dear Attorney General Woods: We, the undersigned animal protection organizations, are requesting that you immediately launch an independent investigation of the Arizona Department of Racing (“DOR”) for its failure to adequately enforce the rules and regulations, which govern Arizona greyhound racetracks, in particular, as they apply to the kennel compounds which house racing greyhounds used by Tucson Greyhound Park (“TGP”). The justification for this request, though triggered by the recent discovery of a badly abused greyhound out of a Tucson racing kennel, is based on combined long-term observations, insider information and medical evidence. Volunteers with Arizona Greyhound Rescue and Greyhound Protection League have been receiving and rehabilitating TGP greyhounds for a number of years and have firsthand knowledge of the conditions of these animals as they come directly out of the Tucson racing system. As you recall, House Bill 2357, known as the Greyhound Protection Bill, was signed into law April 22, 1993 in the wake of the Chandler Heights massacre, a case, which you vigorously prosecuted. The legislation was specifically designed to arm the DOR with the tools needed to ensure the proper care and treatment of greyhound athletes. In the eighteen months since the Rules and Regulations implementing HB 2357 went into effect March 1, 1995, video and photographic evidence has documented no appreciable improvement in the condition of racing The DOR has failed to monitor TGP, employing one full time inspector Statewide to enforce the laws. TGP has in turn failed to properly implement virtually every Paragraph of R4-27-324, Sections A, B and C, R-4-27-325, Section A, and Paragraph R4-27-326 in its entirety with respect to the following areas: Sanitation violations abound and include no running hot water in the kennels and broken, run down wooden crates in varying states of disrepair. Outdated housing equipment for the dogs allows harmful bacteria and parasites to spread unchecked. The dogs are in constant contact with filthy bedding or are not provided bedding at all. As a result, festering open pressure sores on the greyhounds are common. Turn out areas that are required to have sand surfaces instead are comprised of compacted urine soaked, feces ridden, hookworm infested soil. Routine maintenance to eliminate parasites that carry various zoonotic diseases is not being carried out. Dogs at TGP currently suffer from a multitude of life-threatening and debilitating health-related problems due to the severe infestation of ticks and fleas. Greyhound rescue organizations have tested hundreds of greyhounds that arrived directly from TGP facilities for Erlichia, Babesia and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, potentially fatal tick transmitted diseases. The following results have yielded 20% positive for Erlichia, 60% positive for Babesia and 4% positive for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever: diseases, which are directly acquired from the tick infested kennel facilities. The inconsistent effects of the various debilitating conditions afflicting racing greyhounds impacts the predictability of racing performance and casts doubt on the reliability of race results. 1. Internal parasite loads of hookworm, whipworm and tapeworm are extremely heavy in all greyhounds out of these facilities. Hookworm in particular poses a threat of transmission to humans. Real and potential health hazards exist for the surrounding schoolyards and residential communities. 2. The routine feeding of 4-D meat (ie: meat products from dead, diseased, downed and dying animals) to greyhounds in a facility which lacks hot running water and sanitary supplies to insure proper hygiene, allows harmful bacteria such as E. Coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter to affect the health of the greyhounds causing severe gastroenteritis. The risk to human handlers is significant. 3. Health records are suspiciously absent, as are records of required vaccines. Sporadic occurrences of infectious diseases strongly suggests that greyhounds are not receiving even minimal vaccine protection. Again, the threat of zoonotic transmission, such as Leptospirosis, a highly contagious organism, poses a serious public health hazard and is a danger to surrounding communities. 4. The dark, windowless kennel sheds possess numerous building code violations including inadequate ventilation, inoperative cooling systems and substandard electrical conditions, all of which pose significant health hazards to the resident greyhounds and the kennel employees (poor ventilation can easily spread infectious disease rapidly). The decrepit building conditions and code violations compounded by the common use of diesel fuel as a deterrent to tick infestations in these facilities create an extremely hazardous, volatile fire hazard potential. Complaints from surrounding residents about the stench emanating from at least one of the compounds have been ignored by officials. 5. Air conditioning units in hauling vehicles are often broken or non-existent. Broken units are not being replaced. To our knowledge, two dogs have died in 1996 as a result of inoperable cooling units in hauling vehicles. 6. Dogs remain muzzled and unable to groom themselves the majority of the time they are crated, an inhumane practice that leaves these animals defenseless against the onslaught of ticks and fleas. 7. Poorly maintained track surfaces and broken electrical lure equipment predispose already health-compromised dogs to suffer a variety of painful, debilitating and life-threatening musculoskeletal injuries. Veterinary care is non-existent or left up to the discretion of often-impoverished kennel operators who opt not to pursue medical treatment for economic reasons, even for the most painful of injuries. Routine veterinary care barely addresses palliative treatment. According to inside sources, kennel operators are regularly forewarned in advance of inspections. When the kennel inspections by either the National Greyhound Association or the DOR do occur, the appalling aforementioned conditions continue to pass inspection in spite of the rules and regulations in place. We request that your agency also investigate concerns that poor health and improper care of dog racing athletes constitutes serious consumer fraud of the betting public. The victims of this fraud make the presumption that they are betting on a healthy animal when in fact this handicapping sport has been reduced to a game of chance. In light of the apparent failure of HB 2357 to protect Arizona’s canine athletes from deplorable racing and living conditions, we are requesting that your office, a state agency that has no vested interest in greyhound racing, conduct an independent investigation into the Tucson situation. We know that neither you nor the people of Arizona want to see the continued suffering of these magnificent, gentle creatures who have given their very lives to the State of Arizona. Susan Netboy Joan Randles Pat Hubbard Joan Eidinger |