It looks like the Florida Greyhound rescues may need some help soon.

Thanks to Mike for barking in this article from Florida Today.

Dog racing ends until Dec. 26

BY LINDA JUMP

MELBOURNE — Melbourne Greyhound Track is suspending live greyhound racing until Dec. 26.

The track is returning to the winter-only dog racing schedule it used before the gambling establishment added a poker room.

Previously, if the track wanted to allow poker — it had to run live racing. On Sunday, that changed when a new law came into force.

“On July 1, the law took effect to eliminate a phrase that made us run a live race any day that we ran poker,” said Patrick T. Biddix, the track’s president.

The change won’t affect harness racing, horse racing, or jai-alai.

The track is home to 500 greyhounds.

“We’ll know within a few weeks how many will go to other tracks and then, we’ll know how many need to be adopted,” he said.

Biddix said winter greyhound racing has been part of the business since it opened in March 1991. He added that he’s glad to see the summer dog races go.

“It was hot and slow business. There’s something special about reopening with dogs in the winter. There’s something about the circus coming to town,” Biddix said.

He said the change in schedule will affect about 12 trainers. Six will likely be offered another job at the track during the summer, Biddix said. There are 246 full and part-time workers at the track.

Biddix noted that the greyhounds have individual owners and aren’t owned by the track.

Susan Netboy, president of the Greyhound Protection League based in Penn Valley, California, worried that the demand for homes for the unwanted dogs will be a burden on local animal rescue groups.

“There could be 300 to 400 dogs that need to go to a home,” she said. “Who’s going to take care of these dogs in the interim?”

Dennis Tyler, president of Greyhound Pets of America based in Melbourne, said the dogs will be well cared for until adopted.

“We’ve worked with the track since 1996, and have moved 5,000 dogs at that track,” he said.

But, Tyler added, they’ve never had to find new homes for so many dogs so abruptly. His group works with 40 nationwide animal rescue sites. Last year, Tyler’s group found homes for 450 greyhounds, even as the year-round racing continued.

Follow this link to read the rest of the article and see more information.

Share this entry with your pawple anywhere: