Programs & Campaigns

A Message to People Who Care about Greyhounds

The Finish Line: Sacrificed to Science

In Search of Speed and Profits

The greyhound industry treats dogs who "run short" (don’t win) as undesirable "surplus."

Far from the cheers of the crowd, thousands of greyhounds who don’t finish "in the money" are often sold or donated to schools and laboratories for experimentation, dissection and surgical training.

These unfortunate victims end up as body parts on dissection slabs or as the "subjects" of painful experiments.

Experimentation

Greyhounds are characteristically gentle and undemanding. They seldom bite, no matter what pain or indignities are inflicted upon them. Plentiful, convenient, expendable, and good-natured, they are very desirable to experimenters.

In addition, greyhounds’ popularity on the "grey market" is fueled by vivisectors’ claims that a greyhound’s pulse and heart-size approximate a human’s and that their low body fat ensures that their organs are readily accessible.

"Having been handled extensively in their racing careers, these animals are extremely docile. They are friendly, lead easily, and stand quietly for bleeding and other ... procedures." - Staff veterinarian, University of California, Davis

Dissection

With ample availability, greyhounds have even been used in classroom dissections. Students have been shocked to see the slender animals’ body parts lifeless and dissected in front of them.

Countless Victims

The actual total figures on the use of greyhounds in experiments and dissection are not available. This is because the USDA reports include only the label "dog" without breed specifications. Here, though, are just a few disturbing examples:

• 2,652 greyhounds used for terminal labs and dissection at Colorado State University, 214 of whom were donated by MA-licensed "owners" and kennel owners
  (1995-1998, Rocky Mountain News)
  
  
• 600 greyhounds sold to laboratories for medical research
  (1990, Arizona, Phoenix Gazette)
  
  
• Iowa State University used 95 greyhounds for research
  (1994-1999, Iowa State University canine acquisition records)
  
  
• 100+ greyhounds – including 57 puppies – euthanized at Kansas State University
  (January 1996 to May 1998, Kansas State University canine acquisition records)
  
  
• 40 greyhounds illegally donated for medical research at Mississippi State University
  (Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal)

And there are countless others . . .

In the U.S. each year, an estimated 20,000 - 30,000 greyhounds are killed, including thousands of puppies.

We Can Stop This

• Public outcry forced the University of California at Davis to release several of the 56 greyhounds purchased for research in 1989.
  (Woodland Democrat)
  
  
• Animal allies pressured the University of Arizona to release 12 greyhounds from its lab in 1994 on the grounds that they were obtained without their "owners’" permission.
  (The Arizona Republic)
  
  
• An adoption agency received 6 greyhounds from Auburn University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 1998 after it was determined that the dogs were purchased from local race tracks without the "owners’" permission. Unfortunately, this small victory came after 227 greyhounds were already euthanized in 1997 and 1998.
  (The Birmingham News)
  
  
• Investigation of a state-sanctioned "greyhound adoption service" in Cedar Rapids, Wisconsin, revealed that more than 850 dogs were sold to a cardiac research laboratory without permission of many of the dogs’ "owners." The lab agreed to return about 100 of the greyhounds.
  (Wisconsin State Journal)

"Countless racing greyhounds die in cruel laboratory experiments every year because they are no longer fast enough to win. With the help of everyone who cares, we can put an end to the greyhound racing ... that helps fuel these cruel practices."
– Carey Theil, Grey2K USA President

Greyhounds are not safe from horrible fates as research and learning "tools" or as dissection "specimens." Since each dog can fetch as much as $400 from a laboratory, selling "surplus" greyhounds generates a quick and tidy profit. And donating dogs for such purposes makes for a quick and tidy disposal.

The New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) is committed to opposing and ending vivisection – animal experimentation – on all species.

NEAVS adamantly opposes the vivisection and dissection of greyhounds. We support all efforts to ban greyhound racing.

© 2002. Provided as a public service.

What YOU Can Do to Help

For information on ending greyhound racing:
Grey2K USA
P.O. Box 442117
Somerville, MA 02144
www.Grey2kUSA.org

To report lost or found greyhounds
or to get in touch with a local rescue
organization in your area:

The Greyhound Protection League
P.O. Box 669
Penn Valley, CA 95946
(800) 446-8637 or (800) 4HOUNDS
www.greyhounds.org

For adoption information and links:

This is NOT an exhaustive list. Please search the Web for other worthy greyhound organizations or visit www.grey2kusa.org/links1.html

Join NEAVS and support our ongoing campaigns.
Visit our Web site at www.neavs.org for more information on becoming a supporter.

Distribute copies of this brochure.

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Send a SASE for post cards and free copies of this flyer.
New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS)
333 Washington Street, Suite 850
Boston, Massachusetts 02108-5100