Florida's ban on racing will leave thousands of greyhounds homeless

Florida's vote on Tuesday to ban greyhound racing was a victory for animal rights activists. Voters approved Amendment 13 by an overwhelming 69 percent, which means the state's 11 racetracks will need to close by January 2021. This will displace at least 6,000 dogs, which means rescue organizations — particularly those focused on former racing greyhounds — will be overwhelmed.  For many years, Animal welfare organizations have argued that greyhound racing is a cruel sport. GREY2K USA's website lists a number of issues that it claims stem from the world of greyhound racing, including confinement of the dogs for 20 to 23 hours a day, live lure training, injuries and even death. Greyhound racing is illegal in Indiana.Terry Lohrman, president of the Indianapolis chapter of Greyhound Pets of America, and Mary Louden, president of locally-owned Prison Greyhounds, see the situation differently. They joined more than 100 greyhound adoption groups to oppose the ban, and instead they supported responsible racing. "I'm very upset about it," Lohrman said. "Thousands of dogs will be homeless, and thousands of people working at these tracks will be without jobs. Some of these greyhound racers have raced for three or more generations and have nothing else to do."She said the organizations that pushed for the ban are speaking "untruths" about greyhound racing.