Arizona Daily Star

Published: 06.24.2005

Trainer suspended in deaths of 8 dogs

By Becky Pallack and Alexis Huicochea
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A race-dog trainer from Tucson was fined $500 and his license was suspended for 60 days Thursday after eight dogs died in his care.

The animals were in a group of 35 dogs being taken to a racetrack in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, from Tucson Greyhound Park by trainer Jesse Burgess, said Geoffrey Gonsher, Arizona Department of Racing director.

By law, only two greyhounds are allowed in a crate during transportation from one track to another. However, others who loaded the dogs for Burgess placed three to four dogs in a single crate, he said.

Burgess failed to "provide adequate care of the greyhounds, resulting in eight deaths," said Mike Brimmer, chief state steward for the Arizona Department of Racing.

The department gave Burgess the maximum penalty for violating the rules, but said there was "no malice or intent involved."

Burgess, 61, said he has been in the dog-racing business since 1987. He said he was not aware of the two-dog-per-crate rule that was implemented in 1992.

"I've never had anything like this happen," Burgess said. "The people at the kennel who loaded the dogs should've known the rules. They've been doing this longer than me."

Burgess left Tucson at about 8 a.m. Monday and drove five to six hours to El Paso. However, his crossing of the border into Ciudad Juarez was delayed for 6 1/2 hours due to a paperwork error.

In an interview Wednesday with officials from the Racing Department, Burgess said he had the air conditioning on in the trailer, but admitted that one air-conditioning unit was not enough for 35 dogs considering all the delays.

He also said that he did check on the dogs prior to arriving in Juarez, and checked on them several times during the delay.

"They all poked their heads out," Burgess said. "When we were at the border, they were alive. I kept telling the people, 'We gotta get these dogs unloaded or we're gonna have some dead dogs.' "

Because of the mistake in the paperwork, Burgess was not allowed to go any further and had to go to a kennel in El Paso, where he discovered that six dogs had died. Two more were found dead the next day.

Andy Carlton, the veterinarian for the Racing Department, said if there had been two dogs per crate, they would have had a better chance at survival.

"Having three to four dogs in a hole may have led to their demise," he said.

The surviving dogs were taken into Juarez by another hauler.

"It was a man-made tragedy, the result of extremely poor judgment and a lack of concern," said Susan Netboy, president of the Greyhound Protection League, a dog-rescue group based in Penn Valley, Calif.

Her group is publicizing the case, hoping to raise awareness about mistreatment of racing dogs, she said.

The Racing Department suspended Burgess' license, meaning he can still interact with the dogs in his kennel, but cannot race them. A dozen of his dogs scheduled to race Wednesday night at Tucson Greyhound Park, 2601 S. Third Ave., were scratched from their races.

"They are taking away my livelihood," Burgess said of the ruling. "How am I supposed to take care of the dogs if they're not running making money? How am I supposed to pay the fine?"

Contact reporter Becky Pallack at 629-9412 or bpallack@azstarnet.com.
Contact reporter Alexis Huicochea at 629-9412 or ahuicochea@azstarnet.com.