Friday Hound Blogging

Frequent reader(s) of this blog will recall the limitless horizons and boundless potential of youth now shrunken to a crippled dystopian landscape of empty dreams and cold rain...erm...we mean will recall we have several times discoursed on the overlords' use of sophisticated statistical analysis to elucidate for those of us who believe injury and death are bad things how little we actually understand about the fast-paced excitement of industrialized animal exploitation.

Apparently, LNB Night Mare didn't get the memo because she went and made herself a statistic at the Tucson Death Camp for Greyhounds.

On Friday, during a race at Tucson Greyhound Park, one of the dogs bumped the electrified inside rail and died.  The track manager Dale Popp has called that an unfortunate statistical anomaly resulting in product loss.  But Tucson City Council member Steve Kozachik said that records from last June through January show about nineteen dogs that "pulled up" during the race, or fell, and were not reported injured.  These records do not list any specific injury to those dogs, unlike other reports of broken toes and other injuries.  But Kozachik said that these incidents should not be left out of reports to the state, since those dogs never raced again.

"Well there can be a lot of reasons a dog doesn't race again besides injury," Popp said."Maybe they ran off to join the circus, or got kidnapped by aliens. Ever think of that?" Mr. Popp also pointed out that it is not uncommon for dogs to quit racing due to religious conversion. "A lot of these dogs become Baptists, and you know how they feel about gambling," he added.

"Every one of these injuries was substantial enough so that the dog never raced again.  That's the bottom line.  So, if these were the last races for these dogs and the stewards noted them in their own reports, they were significant enough that the owners either adopted them out or just got rid of them," said Ward 6 Tucson City Council member Steve Kozachik. "Now, unless you can find a bunch of aliens, or Baptist missionaries around who suddenly have a pack of greyhounds in their front yards, I think it's pretty safe to assume that Popp's paycheck is signed in greyhound blood."

South Tucson city Commissioner Luis Gonzales said that while regulating the dogs is up to the state racing commission, he is drafting a request that when the investigation is complete, the commission will tell South Tucson the results.  The city will then decide what if any actions are appropriate, and a building inspection because of that electrified inner rail could be possible. "We're hoping to add it to our list of ordinances we don't do anything about," Gonzales said.

Yeah. Well, with friends likes these, huh Bolt?

 Here is your chance to experience many greatest minutes of your life loving this very affectionate and eager to please fellow. Bolt is a curious boy who loves to be where the action is! He starts each day off prancing and wiggling in excitement that his people are waking! Bolt is in foster and doing well with house rules and gets along well his brother. Who is ready for some new greatest minutes? For more information about this dog, and other rescued racing greyhounds looking for homes, go here. If you don't know about the plight of racing greyhounds go here and here.