Posted on Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Greyhound's Death Outrages Advocacy Group

A national group opposed to dog racing is drawing attention to a dog injury at Wichita Greyhound Park that led to the animal being euthanized.

On Sunday, a dog named Black Spuds became tangled up with two other dogs on a turn and fractured two bones in a front leg, said Tracy Diel, executive director of the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission, which regulates the park.

A state veterinarian based at the park was consulted, and at the owner's request, Black Spuds was euthanized, Diel said.
To opponents of greyhound racing, the accident highlights what they see as the cruel nature of dog racing.

"Serious injuries are part of the greyhound racing industry, but this is clearly one of the more horrific injuries that we've seen," said Carey Theil, president of Grey2K USA, a nonprofit group based in Somerville, Mass.

"This greyhound died a horrible death."
Phillip Ruffin Jr., the park's director of operations, said the group is overdramatizing an unfortunate and rare incident.

"I've been at the park for over seven years, and this is the first greyhound death that I've actually heard of" that resulted from a race injury, Ruffin said. "They're attacking a percentage that is so low.
"I get injury reports, and 90 percent of the injuries are minor."

Grey2K USA, which monitors dog tracks, said it obtained state public records showing that during the last six months of 2003, 134 dogs suffered injuries at the Wichita park and The Woodlands in Kansas City, Kan.
Every year, thousands of greyhounds across the nation suffer injuries while racing, said the group's vice president, Christine Dorchak. Those numbers don't include injuries that occur while dogs are at kennels, she said.

The track-related injuries most commonly consist of bone fractures and soft-tissue injuries. But racing dogs also have died from spinal injuries, seizures, cardiac arrest, and electrocution, from coming into contact with an electrical lure, Dorchak said.

Julie Morrison, a Lenexa woman who volunteers to help greyhounds get adopted after their racing careers end, said she has seen plenty of track-related injuries over the years. The most typical injury, she said, is to the right rear leg, which bears the most force as the dog powers its way around the track.

Morrison didn't know all the details of Black Spuds' injuries, but said "it sounds to me like that dog absolutely could have been medically cared for and placed in a loving home for the rest of its life." Some groups will pay for extensive medical care, said Morrison, with Retired Greyhounds As Pets.
A decision on whether to euthanize an injured greyhound is left up to the owner, Diel said. He said commission veterinarians told him that putting a dog to sleep after a severe leg injury would not be unusual.

"This is an industry that places profits above the health and welfare of the greyhounds," said Theil, of Grey2K USA.

But Ruffin, the park director and son of park owner Phil Ruffin, said the dogs' owners get attached to their animals. He didn't know Black Spuds' owner, but he said the dog's injury and death must be a "very difficult blow" to the owner.

"We value the greyhounds' lives," Ruffin said. "That is the... priority."
After the dogs lose their competitiveness, he said, the park helps get them adopted.

Dave Landrum, a racing fan who has been going to the park since 1989, agreed with Ruffin that greyhounds receive proper care.

"Those dogs are really pampered," Landrum said. "They get a real balanced diet... and all the veterinarian care they need."

In the past 15 years, Landrum said, he has witnessed only one severe injury to a dog.
Groups like Grey2K USA overlook the benefits of the park, Ruffin said.

The park employs about 80 people. A charitable entity connected with the park employs about 40 others. And since 1989, Ruffin said, the park has donated more than $5 million to local charities. State law requires some of the track's revenue to go to charity.

Source: The Wichita Eagle, By Tim Potter, 5/26/04

Reach Tim Potter at 268-6684 or tpotter@wichitaeagle.com