8. Animals as Entertainment

Your Entertainment is Their Pain

This week we had Lindsey come in and talk to the class about animals used in entertainment. We also read a interesting article on greyhounds. I thought I would blog about it since we did not discuss the readings in class. 

Since I was already pretty informed on animals in the entertainment industry, I was really shocked to see the birthing video that was shown to us of the elephant mother being restrained as she was giving birth and immediately her baby is removed from her. I already talked about in another journal about how I feel about this subject but to see the video, hit home...again.

Raced to DEATH?

As a avid dog lover, to read about the life of a racing dog hit home. I would never put my dog through horrible conditions these animals go through. One of my friends has a rescued greyhound, recovered from a racing company. I never thought to have a conversation with her until reading this article and getting to know the story of her dog, Reggie.

Not Reggie, but he to could have suffered the same fate

Reggie was saved from the horrible fate of euthanasia after his time was "done" racing. I did not realize the huge amount of greyhound adopting communities around the world. I never realized how big of a "sport" racing is. 

Reggie lived a horrible life, where he was either being trained or kept in a cage with a muzzle. Now because of all the horrifying this Reggie went through he has arthritis and has a fear of grass. Yes, this poor dog never stepped on grass. What makes it acceptable for humans to keep animals in entertainment in cages? Again we go back to the first weeks of class when we were discussing animal liberation. Don't animals have the right to be free? 

(America Aljazeera)

Unfortunately, if you are the "owner" of a dog, as long as you are providing it shelter and food, it is very hard to say "hey do not race your dog". In the case of Reggie, his former owner could keep him in a cage all day as this is not breaking the law. Can you imagine being stuck in a cage almost your whole life and for it to be perfectly legal. 

REGGIE!!!!

I have grown to love Reggie now since he is so brave (even with his fear of grass).  Reggie was adopted in England from a Greyhound Rescue Center. The biggest racing state in the United States is Florida.