Ballot measure to retire dog racing in state is tight

RAYNHAM - A grainy video posted on YouTube shows an octet of lean greyhounds speeding around the track at the Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park. Suddenly, one dog skids and collides with another before tumbling end over end and hitting a wall.

A hideous finale, but not the end of the line for the fallen greyhound. In a second video, now being promoted as a counterargument by track owners, the dog is back in action, competing again at Wonderland Park in Revere.

The disparate images highlight the dramatically different perceptions of the ballot question that could end dog racing by 2010. On one side, the dog defenders who came close to banning racing in 2000 are decrying kennel conditions and highlighting injuries that greyhounds suffer during races. On the other, track owners say that those injuries are few while the cost in human capital would be substantial if the question passes. A new television ad, sponsored by the opposition group and set to begin airing today, features hundreds of Raynham employees gathered in the track that provides their livelihood.

"We're going to put a human face on it; they've attempted to put a greyhound face on it," said Glenn Totten, a consultant working with the track owners to fight the ballot question. "We do not believe the greyhounds are in any distress whatsoever."

The question on the Nov. 4 ballot could be a nail-biter for both campaigns. A 7News/Suffolk University poll released last night indicated that 44 percent of those polled support it, while 43 percent were opposed; another 13 percent were undecided. The poll of 400 people, conducted Monday through Wednesday, has a 4.9 percent margin of error.

The Committee to Protect Dogs is hoping that new information and new technology will gain the success that eluded organizers eight years ago. Made up of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals-Angell, the Humane Society, and Grey2K, the campaign recorded last year's greyhound races shown online. Now, the committee is using that footage to highlight injuries suffered by the dogs. And they are armed with injury reports, which the Massachusetts Racing Commission began requiring in 2002, showing that 714 greyhounds were hurt through 2007.

"These dogs are suffering," said Christine Dorchak, cochairwoman of the Committee to Protect Dogs. "Every three to four days, another dog is seriously injured. This is information voters did not have in 2000."

The injury reports are sometimes harrowing. In September 2004 at Raynham, a greyhound named FTK Sherman Tank "dropped dead at finish line," with the cause deemed "cardiac insufficiency," says a report posted on the Committee to Protect Dogs' website.

The track owners point out that the hundreds of injuries reflect just 0.15 percent of race starts over the years reported. They compare that rate to 12 percent of high school football players or 5.2 percent in girls' soccer injured, comparisons with contact sports their rivals dismiss as irrelevant.

"There are no deaths by volleyball," Dorchak said. "It's apples and oranges. . . . All we're asking is that voters look at the raw data, which is provided by the racetracks themselves, look at the photographs provided by the racetracks themselves showing kennel conditions, and ask themselves, would I treat my dog that way?' "

Opponents think their best argument could lie in the current, grim economy. The Town of Raynham receives $165,000 in taxes and $400,000 in other income from the Raynham-Taunton track, and the state gets more than $5 million, said Gary Temple, general manager at Raynham. The track employs 673 workers, including part-timers, though he acknowledges that he has recently had to cut jobs through attrition and to trim workers' hours because of the sputtering economy.

"They haven't done anything wrong, and you're going to be putting these people out on the street," Temple said of his workers. "When you mention jobs to people, they listen a little bit more."

Dog racing is probably a dying industry in Massachusetts. The handle, or amount gambled, was down at least 37 percent at Raynham from 2002 to 2007 and 65 percent at the state's other dog track, Wonderland. Wonderland is not even putting up a fight against the ballot question, instead forging a partnership with Suffolk Downs horse track in East Boston in hope of getting a casino.

On Wednesday in Raynham, the parking lot was wide open, and seats were easy to find in the enclosed grandstand where Marilyn McMillan and her husband sat, placing $2 bets.

"Years ago, you couldn't get near this place," said McMillan, 76, a retiree from Taunton. She has seen the crowds dwindle in the short time she has been coming, since she met her husband, a trackgoer she married two years ago Election Day. "On the weekends, if we didn't get here early, we'd have a hard time finding a spot. Like anybody, they're suffering."

Outside, the sidelines were nearly empty. Eight teenage lead-outs walked the dogs to the starting gates while they engaged in a lively discussion about cars; their discussion could not be heard by the bettors inside.

Nor could the dogs: Once enclosed in the starting blocks, the greyhounds began whining, keening, squealing, and squeaking in a discomforting, nails-on-blackboard cacophony.

Eugene Genereux, a retired cook and a Raynham patron, stood watching.

People should stop worrying about caged greyhounds and consider "old-aged guys that are pent up," he said.

"Dogs have a job to do," added Gordon Wager, 54, a former trainer from Plymouth who now visits the Raynham track to bet, "just like we do."