Iowa

PENALTY RAKED IN ALLEGED ABUSE OF GREYHOUND. A national greyhound-protection group contends that Iowa regulators were too easy on a trainer who was accused of cruelty to a racing dog at the Bluffs Run greyhound track in Council Bluffs.

Investigative reports released by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission show that Victor "Jay" Rangel, 33, of Council Bluffs was accused by witnesses of using a whip on the greyhound, Primco Glasco, and striking the dog with his hand.

One witness said Rangel grabbed the dog by the collar, pulling it 4 feet into the air, and then threw the dog into its cage and struck it twice with a closed fist.

"The dog was screaming," said assistant trainer Douglas Hammond, who testified that Rangel fired him after he witnessed the incident. "I didn't want to look anymore. It sounded like he hit the dog two or three more times, he closed the dog's door and walked away." read more
Source: The Des Moines Register, By WILLIAM PETROSKI, Register Staff Writer, 05/20/2002

595 RACING GREYHOUNDS WERE DONATED TO IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY between February 1994 and April 1999. 502 of the dogs were donated by members of the National Greyhound Association.
Source: Iowa State University Canine Acqusition Records

8 GREYHOUNDS WERE LEFT UNPROTECTED IN OUTSIDE RUNS DURING FREEZING JANUARY TEMPERATURES BY AN IOWA FARMER and were eventually seized by county authorities in Moscow, Iowa. The dogs had been left out during periods when the wind chill factors measured minus twenty five degrees.
Source: Cedar Rapids Gazette/ January 1994