Greyhound Protection League
greyhounds.org

For Immediate Release: July 11, 2005
Contact: Susan Netboy 888.842.4404

DOZENS OF TUCSON RACING GREYHOUNDS CONFISCATED IN KENNEL RAID

Greyhound Protection League Labels Compound a Public Health Hazard and Urges County Officials to Bulldoze the Property

Tucson, Arizona – Nearly a hundred racing greyhounds were seized by county authorities in a raid that took place Monday evening at an off-site kennel compound that houses race dogs for Tucson Greyhound Park (TGP). The dogs are underweight and infested with hundreds of fleas and ticks. Care of the confiscated greyhounds has been taken over by the Pima County Animal Control with assistance from the Humane Society of Southern Arizona.

Had the raid taken place a week earlier, authorities would have had an even more daunting task. Until recently, a hundred and fifty more greyhounds occupied cages within the compound. In response to the death of eight greyhounds that the track had shipped off to a Mexican dog track, dozens of greyhound rescue groups throughout the country responded to a plea for help and took Tucson dogs into their rescue programs.

The compound from which the greyhounds were confiscated is owned by long-time greyhound trainer, John Rippetoe. Ripettoe leases kennel space to kennel operators who race their dogs at TGP. The lessees and track management are responsible for the care of the dogs within their kennels. The Department of Racing is supposed to provide oversight of the compound and the condition of the dogs. Nowadays, the Rippetoe compound is used as an overflow kennel, but just a few years ago it was the primary kennel compound for Tucson race dogs.

“The Ripettoe kennel compound is infamous for its unsanitary, deplorable conditions,” said Greyhound Protection League President, Susan Netboy. “The condition of the property is a reflection of the care the greyhounds receive and the degree to which the dog track cares about its race dogs. It should have been condemned years ago.”

Netboy says that because the compound holds TGP racing greyhounds, it is under the jurisdiction of the State Racing Commission, but the Commission has ignored repeated complaints about the condition of the dogs held at the facility. The Greyhound Protection League intends to pressure the county to shut the compound down permanently.

- 30 -