Staff Reports
Advocates for a ballot initiative to put an end to dog racing have released a video to bolster their claim that “greyhounds are confined for as much as 23 hours per day at Florida racetracks.”
The 1-minute, 33-second YouTube video, titled “Greyhound Racers Can’t Handle the Truth,” was posted on Monday by the Protect Dogs — Yes on 13 group.
The video purports to use the greyhound industry’s own words against it, showing clips of breeders, trainers and others saying how often dogs are let out of their cages to exercise, suggesting they are confined a minimum of 21 hours daily.
It also showcases several still photos of dogs in kennels, adding ” … when greyhound racers try to distort the facts, tell them you know the truth.”
Amendment 13, placed on the ballot by the 2017-18 Constitution Revision Commission, would outlaw wagering on dog races. Amendments need at least 60 percent approval to be added to the state constitution.
Greyhound owners and breeders, who oppose the ban, deny accusations of cruelty and have challenged the proposed amendment in court.
The proposal also would allow other gambling at tracks, such as card games, to continue even after dog racing ends. In Florida, live dog racing is still conducted at 12 tracks.
The Protect Dogs — Yes on 13 campaign has said it will hold 13 grassroots meetings across the state and recently launched a digital campaign to inform voters through a dedicated website, Facebook page, Twitter feed and Instagram account.
A 1-page white paper on confinement released earlier by the group is here.
55 comments
steven Grabarczyk
June 25, 2018 at 11:18 am
Another feebly constructed video. Common sense would tell you if you laid in a bed 23 hours a day you would not be able to function, be fat and lazy, much less be able to run. That goes for humans as well as animals. How STUPID do they think the people of Florida are???
Fred Barton
June 25, 2018 at 12:46 pm
But Stevie, it’s your own people saying that.
William C Grabow
June 26, 2018 at 6:35 pm
editing can make anything sound bad, Your group already has admitted deceptive practices and lost in court, And your leader lost her case when she pulled her dog in front of a train to kill herself, then tried to sue the transit company, I would like to see you sit for 20-23 hours a day and have a muscled body like a greyhound does, Your fraud and the truth will be heard, Betting start saving your money because the donations will start drying up after people see the real truth
Fred Barton
June 26, 2018 at 6:53 pm
Editing? What editing? Carol Becker Rizo says they’re turned out three or four times for 15 – 20 minutes each time. Stephanie Elford says they get out for 30 – 40 minutes four times a day. That’s pretty clear to me, unless you’re inferring later in the video Rizo and Elford say just kidding.
Roger Taft
June 27, 2018 at 12:15 pm
Once again, Fred, turnouts are not the only time greyhounds are out of their crates. Carol and Stephanie were talking only about turnouts.
Fred Barton
June 27, 2018 at 5:09 pm
See my comment to Roger.
Joey Obrien
June 27, 2018 at 3:33 pm
Lost my job in one state because of these lies. Lose another and there will be hell to pay I will make it my life job to expose Theil and his wife with a different last name and the salary they have been stealing from donors to drum up a well paying career without having to work for a living
George Bova
June 26, 2018 at 6:39 pm
Some Adoption Volunteers are actively working to maintain nearly a 100% adoption rate for Greyhounds — the envy of every other breed. Others who don’t help complain instead and call the volunteers “apologists”. That’s what makes them sad human beings, Fred.
Fred Barton
June 26, 2018 at 9:44 pm
Not sure what that has to do with the video. Maybe that’s your point?
Roger Taft
June 27, 2018 at 12:13 pm
They’re talking about turnouts. Turnouts are not the only time greyhounds are out of their crates. The animal rights extremists are lying by omission by not telling the entire story.
George Bova
June 27, 2018 at 12:51 pm
The activists aren’t the only ones lying; Fred Barton commits the sin of omission too. Go to Paint the Trail and see the dogs at the track for yourself. Believe Fred Barton or your lying eyes.
Fred Barton
June 27, 2018 at 5:10 pm
See my comment to Roger.
Fred Barton
June 27, 2018 at 5:09 pm
I have to admit Roger, I’m a little suspicious of this. After all, I’ve been writing about this issue, literally for years and this is the first time I’ve gotten such a response. Why just a couple of week ago I was going round and round with a lady named Ruth something or other about this very thing. She never mentioned it. She even invited me over to Greyhound Chronicles to carry on the argument, which I did, and no one over there mentioned it.
And anyway, isn’t turnout just turnout, meaning the dogs are out of their crates? I would think if this is a real thing someone would have brought this up before now.
Roger Taft
June 28, 2018 at 12:56 am
Your ignorance about the daily care of greyhounds just proves so much.
Fred Barton
June 28, 2018 at 8:01 am
Come on now Roger, that’s pretty weak. Pointing out how stupid I am about greyhound racing is the highlight of your day. Do you really expect me to believe you’d wait this long to take advantage of this opportunity? I don’t think so. My suspicion is you just came up with this as a way to dodge the crating issue.
Marie
June 25, 2018 at 5:16 pm
What Protect Dogs campaign will not tell voters is that they are ok with Florida voters continuing to vote on simulcast greyhound racing. What is simulcast racing you ask? When greyhound racing is ran at tracks in other states outside of FL and as a Florida citizen you can still place a bet on that dog racing. You will be able to go to any simulcast racing host site in FL and place your bet. But the Protect Dogs campaign and Grey2K USA (who is running the show) say they are “saving the greyhounds”. Well it looks like apparently they felt not all were worth saving.
George Bova
June 28, 2018 at 7:21 am
Fred is too clever by half — lies through his teeth. Greyhounds are athletes and as such must be given the best possible care including, diet, sleep and exercise. Go to the track and see for yourselves, and if you can’t do that watch the video of other Floridians doing it at Paint the Trail. Believe Fred or your lying eyes.
Fred Barton
June 28, 2018 at 7:58 am
We’ve heard this dodge for years now. Yet abused and neglected greyhounds keep turning up with sickening regularity. When the dogs are seen only as a means to an end (profit) their care is always going to b secondary to cost.
George Bova
June 28, 2018 at 8:58 am
If Fred Barton truly cared about abused and neglected dogs, he needn’t go any further than his local animal shelter where hundreds of thousands are desperate for homes, and tragically too many never do. Stop worrying about Greyhounds Fred — virtually 100% are adopted.
Join the rest of us working to save the dogs that truly deserve our attention — not your twisted notions of compassion.
Fred Barton
June 28, 2018 at 11:01 am
Actually, I volunteer at my local animal shelter, but you’re just trying t change the subject again. To put it kindly, the industry’s adoption figures are somewhat in dispute, but what happens to the dogs after you abandon them isn’t really the point of Prop 13. The point is ending the commodification and exploitation of innocent living creatures for profit all together.
George Bova
June 28, 2018 at 3:52 pm
Fred Barton doesn’t know the first thing about the exploitation of dogs or he would be fighting to DEFEAT amendment 13 for dooming racing Greyhounds to the same God awful shelter choices that every other breed already suffers with. You’re one twisted puppy, Fred!
Fred Barton
June 28, 2018 at 4:50 pm
ex·ploi·ta·tion
ˌekˌsploiˈtāSH(ə)n/
noun
noun: exploitation; plural noun: exploitations
1. the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work.
Sounds like greyhound racing to me Georgie boy.
George Bova
June 28, 2018 at 5:08 pm
Not sure what you’re talking about Fred, but since helping Greyhounds find homes isn’t a priority of yours I guess I don’t understand you at all. You’re twisted to be claiming you’re an an animal lover that’s for sure.
Fred Barton
June 28, 2018 at 5:18 pm
OK. Let me try and explain it this way: the greyhound industry takes advantage of a greyhound’s natural joy in running, places them in an artificial environment, subjecting them to potential injury and death, and then tries to make money from that. When the greyhound can no longer be profitable, it is discarded by the industry. That any more clear?
George Bova
June 28, 2018 at 5:28 pm
“Discarded” = virtually 100% adopted. Yours is a demented problem of perception. I was right; you truly are twisted. What kind of horrible person are you? Sick…
Fred Barton
June 29, 2018 at 7:43 am
And why do they need to be adopted? Because they are no longer profitable and the industry has abandoned them to people who suffer from chronic empathy.
George Bova
June 29, 2018 at 8:00 am
Why? Because they are PETS needing HOMES. Like everyone else, Greyhounds get older and slower — though in your case perhaps softer and sicker would also apply? Deny an athlete a life after their career is over… You are twisted.
Fred Barton
June 29, 2018 at 10:12 am
Nice of you to allow them top go be pets once you’ve sucked every penny you can off of them.
George Bova
June 29, 2018 at 10:50 am
They’re athletes, Fred — WORKING DOGS — and they do their job better than any other could. How many other working dogs do you hate? Cops for using police dogs? Military for using military dogs? What a RADICAL and OUTRAGEOUS notion is twisting your brain to say such things?
Fred Barton
June 29, 2018 at 11:02 am
Cops don’t make money off police dogs. Soldiers don’t make money off military dogs. This is what’s called a false equivalence.
George Bova
June 29, 2018 at 11:51 am
What isn’t false is your twisted notions about Greyhounds. They are working dogs who retire and become great pets — enjoying an adoption rate better than any other breed. You just can’t wrapped your twisted brain around any of this and that’s what makes you so sad and pathetic. Frankly I pity you Fred.
Fred Barton
June 29, 2018 at 2:27 pm
Well, if that’s your story you might as well stick with it. Prop 13 will decide if the heartless commodification and exploitation of innocent greyhounds for profit will continue in Florida.
George Bova
June 29, 2018 at 2:35 pm
No worries Fred. Unlike you and the radical activists stealing donation money intended for local shelters, Floridian voters aren’t hallucinating how any working dog is being mistreated — least of all those that outrun every other breed and receive virtually a guaranteed loving adoption home, best of any other breed. Prove you aren’t a hypocrite and get busy helping all the other dogs who suffer in the shelters you would send Greyhounds to as well. I know Floridians see right through your nonsense.
Fred Barton
June 29, 2018 at 7:45 am
And why do they need to be adopted? Because they are no longer profitable and the industry has abandoned them.
Those dogs would be gone whether there was an adoption program our not. The industry is trying to make a virtue of necessity.
Andy
July 4, 2018 at 8:25 am
He really volunteers at the Little Debby plant because he gets free day old products, he loves them ALL
Dick Ciampa
June 25, 2018 at 6:06 pm
Fred,
Did you miss what AJ grant said? He said 7 to 8 hours a day and you just dismissed that. Plus, didn’t you steal that video? Do you have permission to use it.
As far as a grassroots movement you know that is a lie. How can your movement be grassroots when you have over $400,000,000 dollars behind you? You know the over 220 million of the ASPCA, over 125 million from the ASPCA and over 100 million from PETA.
Your friends can pour millions into your campaign when needed so grassroots is just another lie from the liars.
Vote NO on Question 13
Dick
Fred Barton
June 26, 2018 at 8:26 am
Nice of you to conveniently ignore the two comments from the other folks and go with the guy whose industry rap sheet is as long as a greyhound’s tail. My mom used to call that selective hearing.
Dick Ciampa
June 26, 2018 at 3:46 pm
Fred,
It was you who missed AJ’s comment and decided to leave AJ’s comment out not the other way around. You might be the king of rhetoric and know how to twist and turn everything, but I am not the one with selective hearing.
Your mom is right and a very smart woman, to bad her son didn’t listen to her.
Fred Barton
June 26, 2018 at 4:05 pm
Nope. I heard AJ. But I figured two industry representatives that didn’t have rap sheets would be more credible that one who did, but if you want to go with the crook, OK.
Andy
July 2, 2018 at 8:08 pm
Fred never mentions the fact that grey2k is aligned with ALF, nor does he ever mention the growing base of evidence that his larcenous crowd are fraudsters of the highest order, ” please donate so we can keep paying ourselves exorbitant salaries, never mentions the fraud case they lost in Mass, blackmailing a WVA gubernatorial candidate, stealing pictures, and on and on and on. Grey2k is exploiting greyhounds for money.
Margarita Dibenedetto
June 26, 2018 at 9:35 am
So the fact that a group or person has money backing the campaigning doesn’t make any less true what the real situation of the greyhound is. What about the drugging, the injuries, the killing, the confining, and not to forget the almost empty stands.
William C Grabow
June 26, 2018 at 6:46 pm
1 Drug test that was tested from an independent lab came back as human urine, NOT DOG so how many others where not canine urine, this happened right before Grey2k lobbyist stopped working for the office that did the testing,
injuries are less percentage than all dogs of all breeds in home pets, they are not killed, the get adopted by respected groups thru out the US and Canada with waiting list, they are not confined for 20-23 hours, see if your body looks muscled after sitting for that many hours everyday, and the stands are not empty, plus online betting on live races helps with the revenue. which is a lot
Looks like you need to go visit a track and kennel and learn somethings before repeating the gossip and lies spread by Grey2k that has ties to ALF which is on the FBI terrorist list
Jeff White
June 25, 2018 at 6:22 pm
Dear Dick:
How many $millions in gambling money sloshes through the racing industry every day, and how many $millions do you spend on lobbyists, lawsuits, and political campaign contributions to make sure you can continue abusing greyhounds for profit? How can you pretend to be surprised that so many people are willing to contribute their own money to a campaign to ban greyhound racing?
William C Grabow
June 26, 2018 at 6:48 pm
so many are not, its the scam groups like Grey2k, HSUS, PETA that are supporting it with money, None of the groups actually give to help any animals like they want people to believe, check the facts,
Andy
July 3, 2018 at 5:39 am
Your crowd says racing is a money losing proposition, so how does ” millions of dollars slosh through it everyday ‘? Also, if it’s a losing proposition, where do the millions that we supposedly spend come from? You scammers contradict yourselves all the time, you say dogs are forced to run, but watch any video of a retired racer when he sees hears the lure, dogs are horribly abused you say, but they ALL are happy as hell, tails wagging and such. It isn’t hard at all to see through the lies. And the fact remains grey2liars have been caught lying and stealing for years. It’s a fact that HSUS, PETA kills healthy animals everyday, it’s a fact grey2liars spend less than 1% of donations on any animal, and pay themselves over 100K a year.
Jackie
June 26, 2018 at 7:14 am
Greyhound racing is stupid. Of course dogs that only get to run a couple of times a week are going to go crazy and run as fast as they can. It’s the only exercise they get. Bored dogs that have pent up energy to burn are going to run their tails off. Ever known a dog that was tied up outside (or stuck inside) for weeks on end, then suddenly gets loose and just runs around like a race dog on crack!? They don’t even get toys to chew on or play with in their crates! They have got to be so BORED. One of my friends adopted a rescued racing greyhound and it didn’t even know how to play with toys! Sorry, but not letting dogs be dogs is just plain cruel. Greyhound racing kennels are no better than puppy mills. End of story.
William C Grabow
June 26, 2018 at 6:54 pm
Jackie , you need to do some research, they get exercised every day, besides the let outs, I know you have common sense and do you think a runner would have such a fit body if it sat is a cage all day, come on think about it, it just doesnt make sense, do marathon runners sit on the couch for 20-23 hours a day then decide to run a marathon in a week, it takes exercise to be a fit athlete, that alone should make you think what the rest of the things you are told by the anti racers
Andy
July 2, 2018 at 8:12 pm
Fred sits on the couch as much as possible, and anywhere else he can sit being a keyboard warrior, no doubt he never played any sports, was the fat kid always picked last, no doubt is one of those who will sit for 20 minutes in a drive thru with nobody inside because he is too lazy to get out of the car.
Fred Barton
July 2, 2018 at 9:30 pm
Andy has a rich fantasy life. He finds it very helpful when he has to avoid the subject and talk about something irrelevant to points other people are making.
Andy
July 3, 2018 at 11:59 am
Right Fred, points such as your scam group stealing pictures, blackmailing political candidates, admitted fraud in Mass, lying dorchak video, non canine dna drug tests, losing a defamation lawsuit already, you know Fred, all that
proof of fraud that you call ” irrelevant’ . Fred acts like it doesn’t exist. But the coming documentary will prove it to the Florida voters
Fred Barton
July 3, 2018 at 12:06 pm
Thank you for helping me make my point.
Andy
July 2, 2018 at 8:16 pm
As for you, watch some of those videos where retired dogs go back to the track and goes nuts when they hear the lure, so much for forced to run.
Catgrrl63
June 27, 2018 at 12:26 pm
Can’t treat an animal bad and expect it to perform? My ex-racing greyhound was nearly 15 pounds underweight when he came off the track. He looked like a walking skeleton. It was embarrassing to walk him. I had to keep telling people he had just come off the track and I didn’t do that to him. People watching the races can’t tell how thin they are because the numbers cover their torsos.
George Bova
June 27, 2018 at 12:46 pm
Re-read what you just wrote Catgrrl. Do you honestly believe your racer was underweight to run SLOWER than otherwise possible? The truth is your Greyhound is fine but her owner might need an intervention for what is the REAL PROBLEM you perceive.
Andy
July 2, 2018 at 8:15 pm
Can’t tell how thin because people can’t see under the blanket, stupidest thing I’ve heard this side of Fred’s drivel. Oh, and Fred, to see a REAL MAN, google Ric Flair 60 for 60 Youtude….. and watch.
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