It's a dog's life

That last post was just too saccharine, so I have to bring you down. Balance! Balance in all things! So here's your official downer for the day: a story about greyhound racing.

One thing about greyhounds: They aren't likely to die of old age. When dogs turn 4 or 5 and are finished racing, she claims, "it's more cost-efficient for trainers and owners to kill a dog than to house and feed it."

Pro-racing folks balk at that claim, saying that today, most greyhounds are humanely retired, not killed. But in 2002, Alabama investigators found the bodies of thousands of dead greyhounds on the property of 68-year-old Robert Rhodes, a part-time security guard at a track in Pensacola. Rhodes admitted using a .22 caliber rifle to shoot more than 2,000 dogs from all over Florida during the 20 years he worked at the track. He was paid $10 per dog, which he said covered the cost of digging the holes across his 18-acre property. Investigators called the graveyard "a Dachau for dogs."

Read the whole thing. Greyhounds are one of the most docile, friendly dog breeds, and they are routinely wrecked in a cruel sport for the jollies of callous gamblers. If dog fighting is a brutal 'sport' that is rightfully banned, I don't understand why this abuse is allowed to persist.