Staff Reports
Supporters of the proposed constitutional ban on greyhound racing have launched a digital campaign to inform voters about the amendment, the Protect Dogs-Yes on 13 group announced Wednesday.
“The campaign will communicate to voters via a dedicated website, Facebook page, Twitter feed and Instagram account,” a news release said.
The campaign’s website is ProtectDogs.org, the Twitter handle is @VoteYesOn13, and a Facebook page and Instagram account will both be at VoteYesOn13.
There’s also an official campaign logo: A greyhound jumping through the number 13.
“We will take our humane message directly to the voters,” campaign co-chair Sonia Stratemann said in a statement. “For the first time, they will have the opportunity to see direct evidence of greyhound confinement and racetrack deaths, and decide for themselves if this cruelty should end.”
Ban opponents, including greyhound owners and breeders who deny accusations of cruelty, have already challenged the proposed amendment in court.
Their suit says the ballot summary “fail(s) to inform voters that passage would essentially expand gambling by allowing pari-mutuel facilities in Florida to convert to mini-casinos.”
The amendment would allow other gambling at tracks, such as card games, to continue even after dog racing ends.
The campaign previously announced 13 “grassroots meetings” across the state, enlisted the support of Republican political consultant and lobbyist Marc Reichelderfer to serve as a senior advisor, and hired the firm of Trippi Norton Rossmeissl, a Democratic-aligned team that worked on Doug Jones’ U.S. Senate victory in Alabama.
The state constitutional amendment, placed on the ballot by the 2017-18 Constitution Revision Commission, would outlaw the racing of dogs and wagering on such races. Amendments need at least 60 percent approval to be added to the state constitution.
15 comments
steve grabarczyk
May 31, 2018 at 8:17 am
LOL took then ONE day to LIE and commit election fraud
LOL It doesn’t take long for Grey2K and their shill PAC to LIE
Lie#1 Are greyhounds used in racing drugged?
Yes. Over the past decade there have been 419 greyhound drug positives at Florida tracks, including 68 greyhound cocaine positives, and positive results for novocaine, lidocaine, industrial solvent DMSO, and opiates oxycodone and oxymorphone. Greyhound breeders claim cocaine positives are from environmental contamination, a ridiculous theory that has never been proven in a single case. The state agrees this scenario is unlikely: “The Division finds it is much more likely that a prohibited substance is provided to a racing animal purposely by the animal’s trainer.”
29. Dr. Cynthia Cole is a veterinarian and pharmacologist,
who acted as the director of the UF Lab from 2003 to 2006.
Dr. Cole testified that BZE and EME are “naturally occurring
substances,” in the strict sense that they are metabolites of
cocaine and would be naturally produced by any animal that has ingested cocaine.
30. Dr. Cole also conceded that levels of cocaine below
100 (ng/mL) would be very unlikely to have any effect on a
racing animal’s performance, and that such low levels could be the result of environmental contamination. Of the 24 positive tests cited against Petitioners, the highest concentration of a cocaine metabolite was 36.5 ng/mL. Even that appeared to be an outlier, as most of the concentrations were in the range of 10 to 15 ng/mL.
31. Dr. Thomas Tobin, a veterinarian, pharmacologist, and
toxicologist, testified that trace amounts of cocaine are
present virtually everywhere in North American human society.
Dr. Tobin stated that less than 50 ng/mL of urinary BZE is
indicative of nothing more than that the subject lives in North
America. Dr. Tobin testified that a very small concentration of
cocaine metabolites in the urine is likely attributable to
environmental contamination. Dr. Tobin stated that when the
concentration is below pharmacological significance, it should
not be called a positive. He noted that in human drug testing,
a sample is first screened at 150 ng/mL and then confirmed at
100 ng/mL, at which point it is reported as positive. Dr. Tobin
could think of no scientific reason why there should be a
regulatory reporting threshold for humans but not for racing
animals.
32. Cocaine is rapidly absorbed and metabolized, and may
enter a dog’s body through the mouth, the mucous membranes, or through the skin. Dr. Tobin opined that the very small concentrations of cocaine metabolites found in Petitioners’ greyhounds suggest exposure to the drug via touch, soon before the urine sample was taken. He found this significant because of the manner in which urine is collected from racing greyhounds in Florida.
33. Shortly before the first race begins for each 15-race
card, greyhound trainers customarily arrive at the track
detention facility with their greyhounds for weigh-in. The
trainers then leave their greyhounds in the care of track
personnel. Between weigh-in and the end of a greyhound’s race, the dog has no physical contact with its trainer, while it has extensive contact with track personnel.
34. After weigh-in, and approximately 30 minutes before
the first race begins, track personnel identified as “leadouts,”
take the greyhounds into a locked area called a “ginny
pit.” Track personnel supervise the dogs in this area; trainers
and owners are not allowed to be present. The urine sampling of a racing greyhound takes place just prior to the greyhound’s
scheduled race. Depending on when a greyhound is scheduled to race, its urine may be sampled several hours after its last contact with its trainer.
35. Veterinarian assistants employed by the Division catch
racing greyhounds’ urine during the sampling process. The
Division does not drug-test its veterinarian assistants.
Findings of FACT mean nothing to these people. To read the whole court FINDING of FACT by the judge, click this link. https://grey2kscam.com/wp/letters-of-experts/ruling3718.pdf
LIE#2
Are greyhounds used in racing given anabolic steroids?
Yes. Female greyhounds are routinely given an anabolic steroid to prevent a loss of race days. In 2017 legislative testimony, the Florida Greyhound Association estimated that 50% of female dogs are given this drug. This practice is outlawed in greyhound racing in Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, due to integrity and animal welfare concerns. Industry handbook Care of the Racing and Retired Greyhound states that anabolic steroid use can result in serious harmful side effects including increased aggression and virilization. According to the Merck Veterinary Manual: “Longterm suppression of estrus by using androgens is not advised, because it is not documented to be safe in breeding bitches … the safety and efficacy of injectable testosterone, as practiced commonly in racing Greyhounds, has not been supported by controlled studies and is not advised.”
Two REAL scientists that directly contradict their claim. Who do you believe?
http://www.grey2kscam.com/letters/Fenwick.pdf
http://www.grey2kscam.com/letters/gillette.pdf
AGAIN REAL SCIENCE means nothing, all they can do is MISQUOTE from a BOOK. Where are the real scientists evidence of their claims??????
Jeff White
May 31, 2018 at 7:45 pm
Well, it didn’t take long for Steve Grabarczyk to come out with the racing industry lies.
Lie #1 – Trace amounts of urinary BZE are indicative of nothing more than that the subject lives in North America.
FACTS: If that were true, every greyhound in North America would test positive for trace amounts of BZE. But that is not the case. The vast majority of Florida racing greyhounds do not test positive for BZE. The positive results are all clustered around specific kennels and trainers.
Lie #2 – There are two scientists who contradict the racing industry’s manual, “Care of the Racing and Retired Greyhound” and the “Merck Veterinary Manual” — both of which advise against using anabolic steroids for long-term suppression of estrus, because of “serious harmful side effects including increased aggression and virilization” and lack of scientific studies to prove the safety and efficacy of injectable testosterone.
FACTS: Dr. Bradley Fenwick is an expert in infectious diseases. He has done no research or study of the side effects of anabolic steroid administration in greyhounds. His written opinion relies solely on self-serving racing industry sources, and was prepared for the Tucson Greyhound Park racetrack, at a time when the track was embroiled in a scandal over steroid doping. Tucson, now thankfully shut down, was an “end of the line” track where failing greyhounds were sent to squeeze as much money out of them as possible before they were discarded by their “loving” owners and trainers. The track manager Tom Taylor was quoted as saying that most trainers were reluctant to pay veterinarians to inject female greyhounds with steroids, so they simply added steroids to their food instead. Dr. Fenwick does not address the harmful side effects of using steroids as a convenient form of “birth control”. But those adverse effects have been observed and reported on by many other veterinarians who are not in the racing industry’s pocket.
Dr. Robert L. Gillette, a former greyhound breeder and racer, also prepared his 2012 letter, for the Tucson racetrack doping scandal. It merely confirms what we all know: that the racing industry gives anabolic steroids to female greyhounds for its own convenience and financial benefit, because allowing female greyhounds to go into estrus — an entirely natural occurrence for an unsprayed female dog — would necessitate “a management program” of keeping the females separate from the males. Such a management program would cost money, and the racing industry doesn’t want to spend money on animal welfare. Dr. Gillette does not address the potential harmful effects of steroids that are adverted to in the Merck Manual and the industry’s own manual, referred to above, probably because he is not qualified to do so.
Francis Holliday
May 31, 2018 at 10:23 am
Vote YES #13
DjW
May 31, 2018 at 12:33 pm
Looking forward to the opportunity to vote yes on 13
Joe T
May 31, 2018 at 2:52 pm
With Sonia behind it you know its all Lies and Stories, The money she was getting paid by the kennels ran out so she is singing a different tune now, Seen her on the news with smaller crates for her hounds than the ones at the track, See the real truth at https://www.facebook.com/greyhoundchronicles/
Vote No On 13
May 31, 2018 at 3:11 pm
Wow… The utter hypocrisy is stunning. One of the co-chairs raises and keeps sporting horses for participating in Polo, an animal sporting event. The other one shows herself riding in a horse drawn carraige in her fb profile picture. How disingenuous can one group be? I’m certainly not surprised…
#VoteNoOn13
Greyhound Supporter
May 31, 2018 at 4:11 pm
Wow… Hypocrisy at it’s finest. One of the co-chairs for this sham of a group keeps and uses horses for Polo- an ANIMAL based sporting event. An event that accounts for both human and horse fatalities. The other has herself being pulled by horse drawn buggy as her profile picture, where this animal was outside in the hot FL temperatures for far longer than any greyhound is subject to at any given time. How disingenuous can one group be? Not surprising at all
Jaqi Jones
May 31, 2018 at 6:58 pm
What happens to all the greyhounds if you vote YES…did you ever think about that,these dogs are athletes they love to run
Jeff White
May 31, 2018 at 11:37 pm
What happens to the dogs if they keep racing into the indefinite future? They will still all need to be rehomed or killed, as is the current business practice. Stopping the industry by 2020 will allow for a gradual wind-down, and scores of volunteer greyhound adoption organizations all over North America are lined up ready to take on all the dogs that the racing industry pretends to “love” but discards as soon as they stop making money. Yes, greyhounds, like all dogs, love to run. But they don’t love to race around dangerous oval tracks in searing hot and freezing cold weather. They don’t love being confined in cages for over 21 hours a day with a hundred other miserable dogs. They don’t love being doped with steroids to stop them from going into estrus.
April
June 2, 2018 at 2:29 pm
Yeah, they will be found loving forever homes where they can be a DOG, not living in a small cage 22-23 hours a day — not a dog that racing for someone’s “entertainment.”
**ONE GREYHOUND RACING DOG DIES EVERY THREE DAYS IN FLORIDA!** How do you justify this verifiable, TRUE statistic? You can’t. Rhetorical question.
Face it, dog racing will end in FL after the November 2018 election! 70% PLUS of Floridians support ending the cruelty of dog racing; it’s a dying industry that just needs to die already. The loss of jobs (low paying) argument isn’t going to work either. No job ever justifies animal cruelty! The public is more aware of the truth and facts about greyhound racing in FL.
The public knows or will know the truth through ProtectDogs.org website. Can’t wait to VOTE YES ON 13! #voteyeson13
Track workers — you might want to start looking for another job now…
Paul Amoroso
May 31, 2018 at 7:33 pm
These clowns dorchak and theil with grey2k are making grand salaries spreading their lies in the name of their own self serving bullshit they are frauds dont buy it period
Jeff White
May 31, 2018 at 11:44 pm
I suppose nobody in the racing industry makes “grand salaries”? ROFL!
If animal welfare activists were in it just for the money, why would they want to ban greyhound racing, and put themselves out of business? You’re simply incapable of imagining that someone might care about the welfare of greyhounds instead of seeing them as disposable magnets for gambling industry money.
Patti K
June 1, 2018 at 5:55 pm
We do care about the welfare of racing greyhounds which is exactly why we say #VoteNoOn13.
April
June 2, 2018 at 2:32 pm
You have no clue as to what you’re talking about. I’m guessing you’re a track worker. Better brush up on the job skills; you’re going to need them. p.s. I’ve known both Christine Dorchak and Carey Theil for over 20 years. They’re ethical, honest and tireless workers on behalf of the voiceless greyhounds and their well-being. Apparently, that’s not a priority for you. #voteyeson13
http://www.ProtectDogs.com
It’s happening — deal with it!
Andy
June 5, 2018 at 6:07 am
” Ethical, honest, and tireless workers” . Sure they are, that is why Dorchak lies in her heart string tugging interview regarding her train ” accident’ that she later in court has ” no memory’ of. That’s why they admitted to using false and misleading ads in Massachusetts, that’s why Thiel tried a blackmail a gubernatorial candidate in West Virginia. That’s why the drug test tested by an independent lab had NO CANINE DNA. Keep drinking the kool-aid.
Comments are closed.