KC Area Greyhound Track Set to Close

 A Kansas City Area Greyhound track, The Woodlands, will be closing at the end of August.  Declining attendence at the track has caused the track to be losing money for quite some time.  It was initially thought that the new Kansas law that allows Casino gambling would enable the track to stay open for a while, but high profit takes from the state and county made it obvious that the track was eventually going to close.

So August 23 will be the last day for the Woodlands.

Let me start off by saying that long term, this is good news. I have nothing wrong with the actual act of greyhound racing per-se.  However, the overbreeding and disposable nature of the business side of the sport really bugs me. Let's face it, Kansas City doesn't have three greyhound rescues for nothing.  And Kansas' state law that classifies greyhounds as livestock instead of pets so they aren't covered under basic cruelty laws is also troublesome.

However, in the short term, there are a lot of dogs that are going to need homes. While many of the younger/healthier dogs will be transferred to other tracks, many will be in need of homes. If you're looking for a dog, greyhounds make great pets.  Here are the links to the local rescue sites:

KCREGAP

Pups without Partners

Greyhound Pets of America - MOKAN -- Shannon with GPA is one of the best in the rescue business

If you can't take in a dog, any support that you can provide any of these groups in the short term would be more appreciated by them I'm sure. We're talking about up to 900 greyhounds that might end up being available for adoption over the next 30 days.  Which is a lot...

Comments

[Shannon]

Thanks for the kind words Brent! We do anticipate that many of the dogs currently running at The Woodlands will be moved to other tracks around the country because, while our track is not the premier track that it once was, we do still train strong runners in this area. This makes the closing of our Kansas City track, a national problem. If 10 dogs are moved from a kennel here to a kennel at (for instance) Derby Lane, that kennel at Derby Lane will have to either move five dogs to another track or send them to adoption. It's a domino affect that will be felt everywhere...not just here in Kansas City. I recommend that people check out the website of Greyhound Support in Kansas City who will be responsible for managing the dogs that will not move to other tracks but will be dispersed to other adoption programs throughout the country. www.greyhoundsupport.org