Saturday night will be the last day Tucson Greyhound Park will host its final live dog race. The Greyhound Park has been in existence for 72 years. Placement of 400 dogs has been taking place since greyhound racing was banned in Arizona. Tucson Greyhound Park has over 440 dogs in January and after the governor in Arizona cancelled dog racing earlier last month there was increase in determination to transfer the dogs. With the help of Mary Freeman who is a founding member of Southern Arizona Greyhound Adoption the dogs have been able to find themselves new homes.

Mary Freeman states that about 160 dogs have been moved to Arizona and some of them have been moved to California. She also said that there are a number of dogs that will be transferred to Oregon earlier in the week and they will be sent to different places. Some of the dogs have been sent to Texas in New Mexico. With the help of TGP Freeman has been able to ensure that the dogs are securely placed in homes. Rumour has it that some of these dogs will be sold to hunters but Michael Racy who is a spokesman for Tucson Greyhound Park has come forward to deny the claims.

He said that such a rumour was very upsetting and that there was no evidence to prove that was actually happening. The dogs are under the protection of kennels and around 270 will be adopted. 150 dogs up to 170 will also be in a position to race in the four states that are open to greyhound racing. Even though not all dogs have been placed in homes, Freeman says that her organization is fully dedicated to dogs. She said that victory is when the dogs will be placed in homes and that she had hopes that every dog would find shelter. There has been a website placed online for supporters who would love to help in terms of medicine and shelter for dogs. This is because Southern Arizona Greyhound Adoption still needs medical and shelter expenses.

Finally the Greyhound Derby winner for 2016 will be made known this coming Saturday. What remains uncertain is exactly which of the remaining 48 contestants will be the crowned the winner. The competitions held last Saturday brought life in every possible way through the various emotions. This was one of the more straightforward restorations of the Derby. Ballymac Matt, who is the Irish Derby winner, was required to deliver the first crucial moment; as he came flying out of the traps to record a figure of 28.05 with Droopys Latina following closely behind. Kelly Macari’s dog which was eliminated in the opening round last year proved that the race was just a bad day at the office and the bookmakers certainly ran for cover.

Lenson Panda ran down the back straight to the enthusiastic encouragement of the crowd. This made the time seem so short. Unbelievably, the joy did not last for a very long time as Lenson broke a pawn, and the well-loved Jaytee Spartacus consigned himself to elimination as he cannoned into the afflicted runner. Lenny Ponder’s dog has however gone through a successful operation on his afflicted pawn and will be able to go through another day. Just like Premier Fantasy who came years before him, he left the Derby with the impossible question of what could have come out of the race. Lenson Sanchez won the race in the last second, as associates were trying to gain a spot of consolation. However, the crowd was glued to what was happening behind them.

Jaytee Jet was stopped short at the first turn making him lose all his balance and he found himself almost off the track. He was forced to join Badmoonrising on the line for disqualification. Farloe Cody was evicted on Tuesday but a run-off was not needed as both runners justly took their places in the drum. Eden the Kid pushed himself to the ante-post preference for the Derby after he succeeded on Thursday evening. He has made several changes on his running style since he covered the finals last year but he has not stopped liking Wimbledon. He is due to meet up with Droopys Roddick for a meeting on Saturday.

There have been nine Irish dogs progressing to the stage, where Jaytee Dutch did not seem to have a chance at qualifying. The most famous greyhounds in training is the Oaks winner, where Mark Wallis bitch secured her place in the third round. Only three will qualify to Tuesday’s quarter-finals.

The new legislation which is soon to be signed by Governor Doung Ducey will lead to the end of American’s notorious Greyhound parks. The Tucson Greyhound Park in Arizona will be the 39^th park to be shut down thus banning them from carrying out the cruel malpractice. Christine Dorchac who is the president of Grey2K USA announced that they had been working on the legislation for over 10 years. She said this on the Arizona Daily Star, and also referred The Tucson Greyhound Park as a death trap for dogs.

The Greyhound forces dogs to endure very harsh conditions. They do this for the sake of leisure and earnings. The dogs were not allowed any social contact or adequate medical care. They used to live in crates for over 20 hours a day, with inadequate space. The crates also did not have proper air conditioning. The dogs had awful mouth sores and parasites since they were always muzzled. The living environment was also very unbearable making it very easy for infectious to spread. The extreme temperatures in the cages caused very many dog deaths over the previous years.

Greyhound racing has not been attracting the public as much as it was in the past. This is because the public became aware of the inhumane practices that were being carried out on these animals. There was a decline of over 68% of the total amount gambled on Greyhound racing between 2001 and 2013. This was according to statistics carried out by Grey 2K USA. The closing down of the Greyhound racing by Arizona has steered a lot of excitement. There are over 300 to 400 dogs awaiting adoption. The animals are being sort for forever homes. The Arizona Greyhound Rescue is looking to train for the service dogs’ position through the Heartfelt Hounds program.

There is a rescue program for dogs that is found by going to the Grey 2K USA page. They also have a Facebook page that advocates for the rights of these suffering racing dogs.

Claims that 24 greyhounds are being taken to China have brought various protests from Animal rights activists. The dogs are believed to have been transported by ferry from Ireland to Manchester and will be flown to China on Thursday evening. This is a report from the campaigners from the group Caged North West. However, M.E.N has said that there are no planned cargo flights to China from Manchester on Thursday.  This statement does not seem to stop the activists from believing that the 24 greyhounds will be transported from Manchester to Germany and finally to Macau in China where they will be used for greyhound racing or slaughtered for meat.

The animal rights activists came forward to announce that the greyhounds while in China are required to meet certain standards failure to which they are slaughtered. The activists also claimed that they captured a Transportation van at Lymm services in Cheshire which was carrying the greyhounds. A video tape showing people putting dogs in consignments at night has been leaked though the loading area is yet to be identified. The activists had been at Manchester Airport before dawn awaiting the cargo but no transport vehicle was identified. Word reaching the protestors is that there are no planned cargo flights to China from Manchester on Thursday.

Michael James, 35, who is among the first founders of Caged North West stated that they received news that 24 greyhound s were coming from Ireland to Manchester. They were transported on a ferry from Holyhead. He also added that they were able to capture the vehicle carrying them at Lymm services. They were expected to be taken to China. Michael stated that the issue was highly sensitive and that every country including Australia had banned the greyhounds transport to China. He said that if a dog failed to come either in first to third position in greyhound racing in China they were killed. They are also sold as meat which is illegal.

He added that they planned to do whatever it took for them to ensure that no do was transported. They were around 40 activists in the airport keeping watch the whole night but the numbers reduced to 7. The Manchester Airport spokesman said that there had been a group of protestors protesting peacefully on the airport premises. He however assured people that the airport operations were not disrupted.

There has been a controversy on the exact figures that the greyhound racing industry has claimed to have in the adoption programs. According to Veronica Lim, a representative with the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds, the number of greyhounds claimed to be 6100 that the Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP) has pronounced is in the last 20 years is far much smaller in comparison to the actual number of dogs that are bred for racing purposes.

However, according to Sherree Owen the founder of the Greyhound Rescue Victoria claimed that every dog that has to be out unmuzzled must undergo a ‘green collar’ test at GAP. This means that whoever wishes to adopt a dog in her firm must sign another adoption form from the GAP after the dogs have been tested. This would appear as if these adopted dogs were from the GAP.

Trainers who took the liberty of taking their dogs to GAP would come out frustrated after their dogs’ fail the test due to various injuries succumbed from racing. The GAP would ask the trainers if they would accept their dogs back. If they don’t, the GAP would transfer these dogs to other rescue groups for adoption.

Asked about the matter, Renn Barker who is the spokesman at Greyhound Racing Victoria claimed that the figures that were produced by the GRV were exclusively for the association without any additional figure from other dog agencies. These figures were deliberately left out as they were very small and couldn’t have made any great impact in the total sum. Nonetheless, those dogs that were adopted in the name of GAP after their trainers had signed the second GAP form had been included in the total figure.

He added that about 4% of the total greyhounds from the private collar assessment in 2014-15 underwent a second test at GAP which forms the basic requirement of the statutory rules under the Domestic Animals Act.