Florida voters outlaw greyhound racing

Greyhound racing is no more in Florida.

Florida voters passed an amendment during Tuesday’s midterm elections to outlaw the practice of racing greyhounds.

Amendment 13, which needed 60 percent of the vote to pass, gained 69 percent of the vote, according to NBC News.

Florida was one of the only states that allowed the controversial practice of dog racing, which officially began in the United States in the 1930s, though greyhounds had been raced against each other for centuries.

At one point dog racing was legal in 19 states and was the sixth-most popular spectator sport in America, according to an essay published on the Advocacy for Animals site.

Unlike horse racing, which eagerly capitalized on the medium of television to improve its legitimacy, proponents of dog racing shunned broadcasting, fearing it would negatively impact at-track betting activities.

This doomed the sport to forever be saddled with concerns about potential ties to shady underworld dealings, and increasing knowledge of breeding practices and advocacy efforts by animal-rights groups further damaged the sport.

This law, which will put 11 Florida tracks out of business by Dec. 31, 2020, will impact between 5,000 to 7,000 dogs.

Jim Garland, executive director of the National Greyhound Association NGA, estimates that 98 percent of retired greyhounds are adopted to become family pets.

“We will do everything we can do to make sure that every one of them gets adopted,” Garland told NBC News.

This will affect not only the lives of dogs currently racing, but also the next generation, now left purposeless by this legislation – what will happen to them?

“This will be a burden. We’re mobilizing now,” Brooke Stumpf, president of the GreytHounds of Eastern Michigan rescue organization, told NBC News. 

GEM values transparency in its financial statements and advocates for the welfare of dogs while partnering with the racing community, according to its website.

Six legal dog tracks still remain in the country, located in Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Texas and West Virginia.

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