A Greyhound Dies Every Three Days on a Florida Track - DEBUNKED

“You only use 10 percent of your brain. Eating carrots improves your eyesight. Vitamin C cures the common cold. Crime in the United States is at an all-time high.

None of those things are true. But the facts don't actually matter: People repeat them so often that you believe them. Welcome to the “illusory truth effect,” a glitch in the human psyche that equates repetition with truth. Marketers and politicians are masters of manipulating this particular cognitive bias---which perhaps you have become more familiar with lately.“ —- from “Want to Make a Lie Seem True? Say it Again. And Again. And Again.” Emily Dreyfuss 2/11/17 Sound familiar? One of the most often repeated phrases of the anti-racing faction in recent years is the deceptive statistic that a greyhound dies every three days on Florida racetracks. Grey2K masterminded this catch phrase after successfully sponsoring a law, which became effective mid-2013, requiring that every death of a greyhound occurring on Florida track grounds be reported to the state. It doesn’t matter if the death was race related, from illness or natural causes - it must be reported. That there was no effort or consideration when proposing this law to include safety measures to reduce injuries and fatalities, is indicative of their agenda. They were interested only in the numbers, not the welfare of the dogs. Five years later, Grey2K uses these reports to evoke shock, pity and anger, in their ongoing crusade to eradicate greyhound racing. From May 31, 2013 through September 30, 2017, there were 438 greyhound fatalities reported by various Florida racetracks. Grey2K has manipulated this raw data into one of the most blatant deceptions in their bag of tricks - “a greyhound dies on a Florida track every three days.” These 438 deaths of Florida greyhounds occurred over 52 months or 4.333 years. This equates to an average of 101 deaths per year. Grey2K’s claim of one death every three days, using the correct mathematical calculation, would equate to 122 per year, not 101 - a 20% overstatement on their part, but then they were never ones to shy away from exaggeration. What they don't tell you, because they don't know, is how many individual dogs were actually in residence at tracks over this 52 month period, or even over a 12 month period. We know that dogs come and go throughout the year, as some retire and others begin their official careers, so the static population at any given time has been estimated at approximately 8,000 dogs. In any given calendar year, the number might actually include as many as 12,000 individual dogs if the annual turnover rate were 50%, or 10,000 at 25%.
To be conservative, using the 8,000 figure and the true average of 101 deaths per year, the mortality rate would be 1.26%. That percentage would drop to 1% or less if the actual number of dogs in residence during a 12 month period were higher.
The 688 participants in a recent online survey circulated to owners of NGA bred pet greyhounds reported 1,506 greyhounds of any age resided in their homes in the year 2017. Of those, there were 21 deaths reported for greyhound pets younger than 6 years of age, or 1.39%.
The survey also asked participants for the overall number of pet greyhounds they’ve ever had in their homes, and how many had died prior to reaching 6 years of age. Out of 3,710 greyhounds reported, 167 died before age 6 - or 4.5%. While the pet survey is anecdotal and not independently verified, there’s no reason to believe the numbers and information reported are not accurate.
While any premature death of a racing greyhound is tragic and heart wrenching, a reasonable conclusion would be that the occurrence of fatalities at race tracks appears to be less than or in line with those occurring in pet greyhounds of similar age and from similar causes.
The larger issue is not the number of deaths or injuries on Florida greyhound tracks, but why and how could they be prevented? The Florida greyhound industry has repeatedly proposed legislation which would mandate that track owners implement strategic safety measures, as well as requiring greyhound handlers to report all racing-related injuries. At every turn, Grey2K and their affiliated legislators have struck down these proposals in favor of bills requiring injury reporting only, with no provision for injury prevention. Clearly the so-called greyhound “protectors” are more interested in maintaining their bank account balance than maintaining safe racing venues.
(c) 2018