We continue to support the ending of greyhound racing in the state of WV.  We will be back!   Today’s Senate vote was a vote to use taxpayer dollars to make WV the animal cruelty capitol of America!

2/19/20 Democratic Senators voted as a caucus with 10 Republican Senators to defeat SB 285 with a final vote of 11 YEAS and 23 NAYS.   Floor comments proved these Senators want WV to become the greyhound capitol of America. ‘Let’s give it a chance’ they said, ‘sure some dogs die but they do in every sport.’ One Senator said ‘he did not know if the dogs were treated bad but he had been on his county commission and if you want to see dogs treated bad, just go to your local animal control center.’ It came down to jobs and the dogs were expendable!   No thought was given to the 81% of West Virginians who do NOT want this subsidy nor greyhound racing in this state. We puzzle over losing 600 jobs with the closing of Fairmont Regional Medical Center, a vital service, yet we subsidize 400 jobs from mostly ‘out of state’ breeders for a cruel industry!   Go figure. We can’t!

This is a battle lost but the war will continue until greyhound racing is eradicated in West Virginia.   There will be another session and there will certainly be another day in a voting booth.
In 2017, a bill to end it passed the WV State Legislature but then it was sadly vetoed by the Gov.   Now in 2020. there is another chance with SB 285 which will end the $15 million greyhound breeding subsidy which would end greyhound racing in our state.  SB 285 features a $3 million dollar worker retraining fund, a $1 million greyhound adoption fund plus a $500 personal tax credit to any state resident who adopts a West Virginia greyhound!

Please send this email to your delegates and Senator.   This is a guideline.  Please personalize. 

As a constituent, I’m writing to ask that you support ending greyhound racing subsidies in our state.

Every year, greyhound breeders are subsidized with more than $15 million that could otherwise be used for vital services like fixing our roads, investing in health care or substance abuse treatment. Also, an outdated state law requires casinos to hold money-losing dog races. Both of these policies need to change.

According to state records, a racing greyhound dies every ten days in West Virginia. Greyhounds endure lives of confinement, and many suffer serious injuries. Over the last decade 9,091 greyhound injuries have been reported at local dog tracks, including more than 3,000 dogs that suffered broken bones. Drugs are also systemically used to increase racing profits. For example, female greyhounds are routinely given methyltestosterone, an anabolic steroid, to prevent a loss of race days. This cruelty should not be rewarded!

Greyhound racing goes against our values, and should end. Just a year ago Florida citizens voted to phase out commercial dog racing, by a commanding 69% to 31% margin. Arkansas recently announced that greyhound racing will be phased out by 2022, leaving us as one of the final states to sanction this inhumane activity.

A recent survey by Mark Blankenship Enterprises found that 81% of West Virginia voters oppose greyhound racing subsidies. Please stand with those voters, and with me, and vote to end these subsidies as soon as possible.

A few more points that you can make on this argument against greyhound racing:

Here is more data to use in a letter to your delegate.

• $15 million in state gambling subsidies goes to greyhound breeders
• According to state record, every 10 days, a WV greyhound dies.
• 2 racetracks in WV in Wheeling and in Cross lanes could be retooled for something else. Stock car racing, Senior / Assisted Living or Residential Housing, Business Office Space or perhaps a water park? There are real world examples of former dog tracks continuing to provide jobs. The Sarasota Kennel Club is in the process of being transformed into 340 units of affordable housing and an assisted living facility. Similarly, Sanford Orlando Kennel Club is under contract to be redeveloped as a 32 acre mixed use property possibly including housing, retail, and office space.
• Gambling on dog racing in WV declines by 34% between 2010-2017
• More than 1500 greyhounds live in stacked warehouse styled kennels in WV with no limits on confinement. They are fed 4-D dogfood which is the lowest on the chain of cheap food from dying, diseased animals.
• Females are routinely given steroid drugs to ensure they can run which is prohibited elsewhere but continues in WV
• Since 2007, more than 800 disciplinary cases have been reported including 100 drug cases and 19 cases of animal abuse.
• Job loss is actually more like 200-400 and those employees can be retrained into other areas SB 285 has $3 million to retrain personnel

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There are two Facebook pages to visit on this topic.   First is GREY2K USA site:     https://www.facebook.com/GREY2KUSA/

The 2nd one is West Virginians against Greyhound Racing:     https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=west%20virginians%20against%20greyhound%20racing&epa=SEARCH_BOX

PLEASE GO LIKE BOTH OF THESE FACEBOOK PAGES TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!

GREY2K-USA_Greyhound_Racing_in_West_Virginia      Excellent information on racing in WV!

Greyhound Protection Act Endorsement Form       Have your group endorse the effort of GRE2K to end greyhound racing.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION HERE!

https://greyhoundracingfacts.org/

 

Information in this article taken from a discussion with FOHO WV:   FOHO WV believes a comprehensive spay neuter program for West Virginia is key to solving many of the animal welfare issues related to unwanted animals.   Eight years and three legislative bills later, the program is established, the rules written and the funding secured to control the over population of pets and community cats throughout our state.   The FOHO WV goal was to alter 11,247 dogs and cats yearly and in 2020 and the WVDA Spay Neuter grant altered 10,438 dogs and cats including community & feral cats.  The first three years have been a stunning success.

Agriculture will be in place through June of 2027.

99.9% of the money comes from out of state funding. This is collected by adding an additional fee to the already existing fee paid by pet food companies to register their brands of dog and cat food at the WV Dept. of Agriculture. It is expected that the program funding for 2019 will increase by more than $100,000 anticipating even more success in 2019.

The program established by the WV Legislature to be administered by the WV Dept. of Ag. with a committee appointed by the commissioner to assist with the program.

The funding mechanism for the state’s spay/neuter program is an increase on an existing fee already paid to the WV Dept of Agric. for pet food registration. This required an act of the legislature with the Commercial pet feed bill HB 2552 Passed April 8, 2017 – In effect for 10 years.

Program is administered by the West Virginia Dept. of Agriculture. AG Comm. appointed a spay neuter committee to help with this. The FOHO group has two people on the committee for now. After all,  they led 100% of the work to get this passed since 2009. It has 3 bills supporting the program.  The program, the rules and the funding, all passed different years.

Year	Total Dogs	Total Cats	Community Cats	Total animals altered	Counties served	Total Grantees
2018	2,669	6,284	not tracked	8,953	45	35
2019	2,315	4,731	2,881	9,927	48	55
2020	2,175	5,354	2,909	10,438	50	64
2021	1,857	7,917	3,040	9,774	51	68

 

Who is eligible for a grant?
501c3 nonprofit incorporated groups and animal control agencies that provide spay neuter services to WV owned cats and dogs and community cats.   (Refer to listed rules at WVDA)

Testamonials from some who received a 2019 grant:

“Operation Fancy Free Inc. was thrilled to be selected for the WV Spay & Neuter Grant program. With these funds in one year we sterilized 274 cats; 150 females and 124 males.   We are so appreciative of these grant dollars!”   Kathy Stone, co-founder, Operation Fancy Free, Inc.

 

“The state grant is a lottery win for organizations in rural areas where fundraising is limited” Chip Adkins, Humane Society of Pocahontas County

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Fix’em Clinic Charleston​     –  5 Counties served​ Thank you West Virginia Department of Agriculture for supporting our mission of reducing and eliminating euthanasia in shelters due to pet overpopulation. The WVDA awarded us a grant to provide even more affordable spay and neuter services to those in Boone, Lincoln, Logan, Roane and Clay county. A total of 837 animals benefited from the grant!

We look forward to helping even more next year.

Testimonials for 2020

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The Humane Society of Pocahontas County

The 2019 Spay/Neuter initiative grant through the West Virginia Department of Agriculture (WVDA) has been expended ($30K) and our program has come to an end for this year. Thanks to the WVDA for their assistance and insight, the legislators who made this possible through the pet food tax, and funds from the Pocahontas County Commission as well as the many donations locally and from afar that has made it possible to do this for a second year. Only half of the $30K came from the state, the other $15K we raised to make this happen. We are set to apply again next year and hope to continue on with this important work. The numbers below represent our results.

April-October 2019

Dog Spay: 82 Dog Neuter: 56 Cat Spay: 85 Cat Neuter: 68 Community Cat Spay: 93 Community Cat Neuter: 52

Total: 436

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Animal Outreach Project, INC.   ​  – 5 counties served ​

This year we were awarded the WV Dept of Agriculture Supporters of WV Spay Neuter Assistance Fund. This year we were able to spay and neuter 159 animals with our grant. 37 being dog spays 16 dog neuters, 57 cat spays, and 49 cat neuters. Of those cats, 61 were community strays or ferals. We helped people in 5 different counties but primarily here in Upshur county. We couldn’t do it without your continued support. We thank you greatly for decreasing the number of euthanized and unwanted animals

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Appalachian Peace Paws​   – 8 counties served​

We are proud to have received the WV Spay Neuter Assistance Fund Grant for the second year! This year we were able to help spay/neuter 154 animals with these funds, and the funds of those donated to help us match these funds. 154 animals from 8 different counties in West Virginia were able to be spayed/neutered! Thank you for your continued support to help us with this lifesaving work.

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Mercer County Humane Society​      2 counties served​

We are very pleased to have received a $15,000 grant from the state of WV and to have matched it with our own $15,000 grant that enabled us to issue vouchers for 1300 pets in Mercer & McDowell counties during 2019. These vouchers provided for surgery, a pain injection and a rabies vaccine for each patient. This is large and positive step in the right direction of population control for companion animals and infectious disease control for unclaimed animals.

 

Testamonials from some who received a 2018 grant:

The Fix’Em Clinic contributed by utilizing their $16,000 grant to leverage $32,000 of Spay and neuters in 2018 between our opening in late February through October.   Thank you WV Spay Neuter Assistance Fund for helping us help pets from Boone, Logan, Mingo, Lincoln, and Roane Counties.  Libby Minotti Ballard, President of Board, Fix’Em Clinic 

Operation Fancy Free, Jackson County was thrilled to be selected in the first year for a $5000 grant. We provide TNR services and we were able to spay/neuter 225 cats with the grant in 2018!  Kathy Stone, President and Co-founder.

Save a Kitty Feral Cat Program:  247 community cats and kittens were sterilized and vaccinated through Save a Kitty Feral Cat Program from Parkersburg during 2018 with the assistance of the WV S/N fund. We are elated that this fund is available for the state of WV. We will have a record year for 2018. As of November 30th, 800 community cats and kittens have been sterilized through our TNR program.   Great job Save a Kitty FCP !!!!  Kandi Habeb, Founder

 

Way to go WV Animal Groups for putting WV on path to controlling pet overpopulation!

 

Source- Provided by FOHO WV