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October 28, 2008

Letter: Dogs shouldn't be used as gambling tools

To the editor:

I enjoyed Barbara Anderson's Oct. 23 column regarding Question 3 (which would ban greyhound racing in Massachusetts).

While I almost could agree with her, there are a couple of facts that make me vote yes on Question 3.

Fact: The photo of her with a greyhound in its cage speaks volumes as to why racing should be eliminated.

Dogs can be trained to become used to living in cages, but a dog caged for multiple hours every day (even with some limited exercise time) is not in a natural state. This is somewhat akin to asking a human to be confined to one room all day long with only one or two hours of free time each day.

Fact: Ms. Anderson says these dogs were bred to run. True. However, the matter of caging them still is true and the act of breeding them to run is human-inspired, not a truly natural evolution of this animal.

Fact: The greyhounds are bred and caged for what purpose?

Pure and simple, to give humans the opportunity to gamble and entertain themselves at the expense of other of God's creatures.

Little by little our world is coming to understand the folly of some of our past and still current ways. Why should we continue to subject these creatures to a less-than-normal existence for our enjoyment?

I say please vote yes on Question 3 and enjoy these animals as loving, gentle creatures, not as tools for gambling.

Walter Haug

Marblehead

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