PANAMA CITY — At least 18 more greyhounds have died at Florida tracks since Jan. 1, bringing the total to 92 deaths in the last nine months, state documents show.
No new deaths were reported at Ebro Greyhound Park, the track just north of Bay County, but Pensacola Greyhound Track had two deaths.
On Jan. 11 a greyhound named Al E Mony finished a race, but then died before it could make it to the veterinarian’s office. The track provided the state with no other details.
On Jan. 17, a dog named TL Black Diamond got into a collision on the track’s third turn. It “was trampled which resulted in her front leg being so severely broken she had to be humanely euthanized,” according to the report.
The latest documents show dog deaths between Jan. 1 and Feb. 18. The tracks with the most deaths included Sarasota Kennel Club (four deaths), Sanford Orlando Kennel Club (three deaths) and Daytona Beach Kennel Club (three deaths). The new documents come on the heels of a Massachusetts-based greyhound advocacy group’s report showing 74 deaths between May 31 and Dec. 31.
The state only began requiring tracks to report greyhound deaths in late May of last year, so it’s difficult to get data on track fatalities before then.
Though Ebro had no deaths in the latest two-month period, the track is in its off-season and greyhounds will not start racing again until May. The Ebro racing season ended in September, and the track saw seven deaths between June and the close of the race schedule last year.
Grey2K conducted the initial study and finds the latest numbers appalling, but not surprising.
“It’s deeply disturbing,” said Carey Theil, Grey2K’s executive director. “It’s something that needs to change, and it’s … again a call for the Legislature to do something.”
Grey2K, along with other animal welfare organizations, wants to end greyhound racing in Florida and is supporting legislation that it believes will sink the industry.
The group will push for decoupling in the upcoming legislative session, which starts March 4 in Tallahassee. Decoupling would eliminate the requirement to run a minimum number of races at a pari-mutuel facility in order to operate a card room.
Dog racing has been a financial loser for tracks across the state and animal advocates are banking on it being phased out if decoupling passes.
“This is an industry that has minimal economic impact; it only exists because it’s being propped up. … We’re not only talking about greyhound deaths; we’re talking about greyhound deaths that are unnecessary,” Theil said.
Grey2K also is pushing for mandatory injury reporting at tracks, arguing it will cut down on the number of greyhounds euthanized.
Florida Greyhound Association lobbyist Jack Cory said the dog deaths are “unfortunate,” but his group has a three-point safety plan to improve racing. He dismissed the idea that continuing racing will inevitably lead to dogs dying on the track.
Cory’s plan includes maintaining proper track surface, using a “breakaway arm” and insulating a 240-volt bar that runs along the track’s interior.
He said 50 percent of the deaths in the initial seven-month period were because track management failed to improve the track surface and keep it safe. Instead, he said, the tracks all want to become casinos and are trying to “run the industry into the ground.”
“Greyhound racing inevitably is a safe sport for the animal,” Cory said, adding, “Live greyhound racing is a good sport; it’s been a good sport for a lot of years, and it will continue.”
Cory said the injuries and deaths could be minimized by his plan, and that’s what he’s focused on. He’s not interested, however, in mandatory injury reporting until the state gets the track problems and other issues under control.
“Reports do nothing; that’s been proven by the death reports,” Cory said. “All the out-of-state radical animal rights groups are going to do with reports is to … raise funds and do press releases.”
“After we stop the injuries, we’d be happy to support it (injury reporting),” he said.
Cory stressed the state has no official report on greyhound deaths, but only receives faxes and copies — “some of them unintelligible” — from the tracks. He also said no one in Florida cares more about animal welfare than he does, citing his volunteer work with a pet adoption group each Saturday.
“I love animals and I would not be representing this client if I didn’t think they were doing everything in the world possible to take care of their animals,” Cory said.