Don't be cruel

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are up in arms against House Bill No. 5291, “an act granting the Fox New Millennium Amusement Club, Inc. (FNMACI) a franchise to construct, operate and maintain a Greyhound racetrack facility in any place within the city of Mandaue, province of Cebu.” The principal authors of the bill are Reps. Benhur L. Salimbangon, Nerissa Corazon Soon-Ruiz, and Ferjenel Biron.

HB 5291 was approved by the House of Representatives on Dec. 3. It was sent to the Senate on Dec. 12 as Committee Report 1393.

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The process of making a law in the country requires the approval of both the Senate and the House of Representatives. When a bill is passed, like in this case in the House of Representatives, the Committee Report is sent to the Senate for its concurrence and approval.

Anna Cabrera, PAWS director, told me that the official voting on the Senate bill will start anytime after July 27.

PAWS and PETA have been actively lobbying in the Senate against the passage of the bill. So far, only two senators — Francis Escudero and Gringo Honasan — have said that they would vote against the bill.

“We will still meet with other senators who have agreed to listen to us on the matter,” Anna said. “There is so much cruelty that goes into Greyhound racing. We cannot let this become a sport here.”

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In the minutes of the committee hearing that PAWS was able to get, the sponsors of the bill have said if passed into law, the bill would assure that the Greyhounds will be well-cared for and that a shelter will be established for the retired Greyhounds.

But we all know that “dog keeping” hereabouts means that dogs can be left outside unsupervised and can be made semi-strays for the rest of their lives. In the few trips that I have made to Thailand, I have been witness to how the people there care for the street dogs. Matter of fact, there are people who really come out to feed the dogs that pass by their homes. The other dogs, meanwhile, are kept in the temples and taken care of by monks. Unlike here where it is not uncommon to see dogs, mangy and undernourished, walking the streets and being ignored by Pinoys.

I also know that only a handful of local animal welfare groups like PAWS, Compassion and Responsibility towards Animals (CARA) and the Philippine Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PhilSPCA) have spay-neuter campaigns within Metro Manila. Yet, these are low-impact community outreach programs which, at best, reach out to about 50 dogs per welfare group per month.

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It is funny how in most developed countries Greyhound racetracks are closing down and here we are wanting to open one. We must be moving backwards. The Greyhound racing proponents here seem to be trying to bring back to life a dying and cruel sport.

What makes the sport so cruel?

Well, for starters, it will encourage racers to breed Greyhounds that are race-worthy. When that is done, the Greyhounds that are not good enough will either be put down or sent to a shelter where only the god of dogs will know how they will be treated.

Overbreeding and inbreeding are cruel. More cruel is what will happen to the has-been racers. And the list of cruelty goes on and on.

Let’s make a stand and help our educated legislators see that only cruelty will result from building a Greyhound racing track and bringing the sport to the country.

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Here are excerpts from the letter PAWS sent to the Senate:

Greyhound racing is cruel.

The new industry of Greyhound racing will trigger the breeding of hundreds of Greyhounds, more than it can place at race tracks. Racing aficionados will be motivated to produce “winning” dogs and will end up overbreeding them. In the United States, approximately 20,000 surplus Greyhounds are destroyed each year because they have been deemed unfit to race and because there are not enough homes for the retired dogs.

To illustrate just how many retired dogs that the Philippines would be dealing with, consider this: A Greyhound’s racing career is usually over at three and a half to four years of age, and yet, its life expectancy is about 13 years old.

Add this to the Philippine scenario where there is already an alarming rate of homeless dogs due to the unregulated breeding of purebred dogs, and the lack of government-funded spay-neuter programs to prevent overpopulation of “native” dogs or regular aspins (Asong Pinoys, formerly called askals ), House Bill 5291 will exponentially increase the current dog population of an estimated 9.6 million.

Greyhound racing cannot be operated in a humane manner.

The reason why the Greyhound racing industry is inherently cruel is that it treats dogs as commodities. It is a form of gaming in which the amount of money a dog generates determines his or her expendability.

As a result, the following cruelties have been commonly observed in racing Greyhounds’ kennels or facilities in developed countries — even those with strict animal welfare laws like the United States:

Greyhounds are kept at track kennels in stacked cages, often muzzled, for a total of 18 to 22 hours per day.

Many tracks use wooden crates which get soaked in urine, making sanitary conditions difficult.

Greyhound adoption groups regularly report that incoming Greyhounds suffer from an incredible variety of afflictions. Untreated conditions and injuries such as missing or broken toes, broken hocks, and incredible internal (whipworms, hookworms, tapeworms, coccidia, and giardia) and external (fleas, ticks, mites) parasites are common. Teeth and gums frequently show advanced signs of neglect-related disease and weakness, attributable to diet, as well as stress-related trauma from chewing on available materials in the environment (stress/boredom precipitated).

[Source: www.greyhounds.org]

Greyhound racing is immoral.

House Bill No. 5291 is proposing that we create a whole new profit-driven industry based on assumption of “expendable” lives.

To allow a cycle of breeding and then mercilessly killing thousands of dogs “not being good enough to race” in the name of gambling and entertainment is morally inexcusable.

There is no need for the Philippines to adopt immoral and unethical practices being criticized by a growing number of informed citizens all over the world.

It will be a blight on our national image to introduce this form of animal cruelty as an acceptable and legal practice in our country.

It is respectfully prayed that House Bill No. 5291 be outright rejected and not passed into law for it introduces the cruel, inhumane, immoral and unethical sport that is Greyhound racing.

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This is the letter of PETA:

The Philippines Senate is considering a bill that would bring Greyhound racing to the country. If approved, this bill will doom thousands of Greyhounds to miserable lives and deaths.

Picture this: 10,000 dead Greyhounds are found buried in a “killing field”. The bodies of 3,000 former racers are uncovered in a backyard pit. Seventy-three Greyhounds burn to death after fire breaks out in their kennel, while more than 50 others die of heat stroke in the same kennel a few years later. These horrific incidents occurred in England and the US, but Greyhound racing causes the suffering and deaths of countless dogs around the world.

The cruelty of Greyhound racing begins even before a dog steps foot on a track. Countless animals whom breeders believe will be too slow to win races are killed each year. Dogs have been shot, bludgeoned, or simply dumped to fend for themselves.

Dogs who are deemed “good enough” to race typically spend their lives in cages and are kept muzzled at all times. They never know a kind word or a gentle touch, much less the belly rubs and companionship that they deserve. Trainers often dope Greyhounds to mask injuries or to get them to run faster. Sickness and injuries — including broken legs, heatstroke, and heart attacks — claim the lives of many dogs.

In recent years, 27 Greyhound tracks have closed in the US because of declining attendance, and the so-called “sport” is illegal in 34 states. Barbados, Haiti, and Indonesia have all shuttered their once active tracks, and former racing dogs in Guam were given to anyone who would take them after the local track closed because of dwindling profits. Please do your part to prevent this cruel sport from being introduced to the Philippines and immediately make your objections to this proposal known to these officials.

The PETA Asia-Pacific Team_Activist@PETAAsiaPacific.com