CHARLESTON GAZETTE PUBLISHES AGC LETTER

AGC Spokesman Gary Guccione set the record straight in a letter published September 24 in West Virginia’s Charleston Gazette. The communication was in response to earlier coverage of Grey2K’s much-hyped "report" on greyhound injuries at Wheeling Island. 

Guccione wrote, "The Grey2K USA attack against greyhound racing, as reported in your September 4 article, has little to do with reality and everything to do with this organization’s radical political agenda. These extremists will say and do anything to stir up public outrage and cash in on well-intentioned but misguided donors."

Here’s the rest of the letter:

"The fact is that only about one-half of one percent of all greyhound racing starts actually result in injury to greyhounds. Of those injuries, the vast majority are so minor that the greyhounds are treated and able to return to racing in a week or two.

"On rare occasions, greyhounds experience injuries that end their racing careers. Those that are unable to continue racing are retired into an adoption program, and find loving homes in which to live out ther lives. Nearly 95 percent of all registered racing greyhounds are returned to the farm or placed in adoptive homes when they retire. It’s hard to imagine how any reasonable person could consider this outcome "catastrophic."

"It should be obvious to anyone with an ounce of common sense that greyhound owners and track operators have a vested interest in doing everything possible to reduce the risk of injury to racing greyhounds. That is why tracks spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year on track maintenance and training and research to identify and resolve track surface issues that could contribute to greyhound injuries.

"Grey2K also misrepresents the economic reality of greyhound racing. The economic benefits of live racing are not limited to the number of tax dollars generated for state coffers. In most states, racinos have been approved, at least in part, because rural economies benefit from the horse and dog breeding industries that generate jobs, revenue and business activity in farm communities. This is a reality that the urban, well-heeled leaders of Grey2K simply do not understand.

"The bottom line is simple. Animal rights groups may generate a lot of heat, but they seldom shed much light on the issues they’re exploiting to raise money. Hopefully your readers will take Grey2K’s over-dramatic rhetoric with a grain of salt."