Track owner in race to win ballot fight

"If they say it's a dying industry, why don't they just let it eventually collapse under its own weight? Why is there need for a ban?" says George Carney (right), owner of Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park, shown with track manager Gary Temple (left). (Sonja Wallgren for The Boston Globe)

With less than four weeks until election day, Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park owner George Carney is launching a counterattack against a state ballot question that would shut down his race track by January 2010.

Carney's effort to defeat the so-called Greyhound Protection Act - Question 3 on the Nov. 4 ballot - is being led by media consultant Glenn Totten, who has helped racetrack owners facing similar movements across the country and abroad.

Those favoring a ban on greyhound racing mobilized to begin their effort nearly a year ago, and the Committee to Protect Dogs gathered 150,000 signatures of registered voters to get the proposal on the ballot. The effort has the backing of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - Angell Animal Medical Center, a number of animal shelters and animal rights organizations, and the national Grey2K organization.

Why the late start for those who want to keep the dog tracks open?

"We assumed the question wouldn't get on the ballot," Totten said.

In 2006, Carney was able to get a Superior Court ruling that kept a similar question off the ballot. This time around, however, his court filing failed to net the same results.

Totten said his focus during the next few weeks will be on clearing up the "misinformation" that he says has been circulated by Question 3 promoters.

Over the last several months, officers in Grey2K have accused Carney of inflating the employment figures related to the Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park. Carney has said that his operation has 650 full- and part-time employees with benefits, and that there are 1,000 jobs supported by dog tracks statewide. "And in this economy, where are these people going to find jobs?" Carney said last week.

The only other dog-racing operation in Massachusetts is Wonderland Park in Revere.

While Carney has steadfastly defended his employment numbers, Grey2K has said all the racetracks in the state, counting both dog and horse tracks, employ about 650 total.

Both sides are also debating the number of greyhounds that are adopted when they retire from racing. Carney recently paid for a newspaper ad that said 100 percent of the greyhounds that retire from his track are adopted. The dog-racing opponents said that just 14 percent get adopted, citing 2006 figures released by the state Racing Commission.

Carney said that not all the dogs that leave his track are retiring, and may be racing elsewhere. "The younger dogs may go to other tracks," Carney said. "Not all dogs run as well at one track as they do at another."

According to state Racing Commission figures covering 2006, approximately 1 percent of the dogs that retired from Massachusetts tracks were euthanized, 1 percent died of natural causes, 12 percent stayed with their owners, 14 percent were adopted, 5 percent went to breed, and 65 percent went to run at other tracks.

The Committee to Protect Dogs recently released a statement that 800 dogs were injured at Massachusetts tracks since 2002, suffering broken legs, paralysis, and even cardiac arrest. Along with the statistic, the group released grisly footage of racing greyhounds crashing into the track's sidewall and tumbling over each other in one of the first turns of a race. Two dogs were fatally injured in crashes featured on the videotapes, according to the Committee to Protect Dogs.

Brian Adams, spokesman for MSPCA-Angell, said a greyhound is injured at a Massachusetts track every three days, by average. "And I'm not talking about a broken toenail," Adams said. "These are serious injuries that could take up to a year to heal."

Totten didn't dispute the committee's figures, but said the group doesn't provide the whole picture. "They make it sound like it's canine demolition derby at the track," Totten said. "But during that time, a total of 465,176 dogs ran. The injury rate is .0015 - that's less than the injury rate in Massachusetts kindergartens."

Another point of dispute is the statement by the Committee to Protect Dogs that greyhounds are kept for 20 hours or more each day in cages so small they can barely turn around. Raynham-Taunton track manager Gary Temple, who said he has worked at the park for 17 years, said such a practice would be counterproductive.

"If you've got an athlete for a dog, there's no way you're going to crate them for 20 hours," Temple said. "They get let out to run and exercise five or six times a day, and we feed them good, nutritional food." He also said the crates at Raynham-Taunton are larger than the standard suggested in 2002 by some animal rights organizations.

Adams said the MSPCA has never made a recommendation on crate size. "If we did, we would recommend something much larger," he said.

Carney added that the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has been to his track and has never cited him for a violation in his 40 years of business.

Adams confirmed his statement, but said it's simply because there is no law covering the mental cruelty that he says the dogs endure. "So far, in Massachusetts, a violation has to be related to physical cruelty," Adams said.

Both sides do agree on one thing: Dog racing is in decline. Carney's track has been far less busy since two casinos opened in Connecticut, he said.

"If they say it's a dying industry, why don't they just let it eventually collapse under its own weight?" Carney queried last week. "Why is there need for a ban?"

Carney said the two dog tracks contributed more than $40 million to the state's coffers between 2001 and 2007. The MSPCA and Grey2K officials say that tax revenue is no reason to continue an inhumane sport.

The chairman of Raynham's Board of Selectmen, Donald McKinnon, said his town stands to lose some cash as well if the ban goes through. "Right now, we get about $400,000 a year from the track handle," McKinnon said. "We also get the real estate taxes."

"If you take away the tracks, you would probably see the end of the greyhound breed," McKinnon said. "I can't see greyhounds being bred for pets. I also don't picture the people behind the ban caring for all the greyhounds that the tracks now own. What's going to happen to those dogs?"

According to Adams, many of the dogs are owned by people who would simply race them at tracks in other states. "Hopefully, the Massachusetts dogs will be adopted or kept by their owners," he said.

Christine Legere can be reached at christinelegere@yahoo.com.