It was with deep regret that I read greyhound racing will resume at Valley Race Park in Harlingen (April 14).
As you correctly pointed out, greyhound racing is economically unsustainable because the amount gambled on live racing at Texas dog tracks declined by 59 percent from 2008-2015.
During the same period, attendance declined by 70 percent. Meanwhile, there were 2,605 injuries reported – the second highest in the country. Dogs trapped in this dying industry face a life of confinement, abuse, injury and death.
I am currently a Board member of Grey2KUSA, an organizations that fights to save these marvelous creatures worldwide, and I have fostered and adopted rescued racing greyhounds since 1995.
I cannot imagine abandoning any of them when they become injured, old or sick and yet this is routinely what happens to them at the track.
I can only hope that the Texas Racing Commission will come to its senses and rescind this morally and economically disastrous decision.
Fred Barton Board member Grey2K USA Worldwide
