By RUSTY MARKS
The State Journal
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, is looking for answers after the president of the West Virginia Kennel Owners Association was found to have connections to a greyhound doping scandal in the state of Florida.
(File photo)
“West Virginia’s possible ties to alleged drug abuse in the greyhound racing industry is obviously very troublesome,” Carmichael said in an Aug. 1 letter to the state Racing Commission. The letter asks Racing Commission Executive Director Joe Moore to look into whether positive cocaine tests for racing dogs at a Florida kennel owned by West Virginia Kennel Owners Association President Steve Sarras should raise concerns about dogs at Sarras’ kennel in Wheeling.
“As you know, the reputation of the greyhound racing industry is lackluster to say the least,” Carmichael said in the letter. “Forty states now outlaw greyhound racing, and ours is one of only a handful that still have live events.
Moore did not immediately respond to questions about the letter on Monday, Aug. 7.
Media in Florida reported in June that 12 dogs had tested positive for a cocaine byproduct at the Orange Park dog track during the first three months of 2017. Some of the dogs were under the care of workers at a kennel owned by Sarras.
Sarras said in a telephone interview that the doping story is being pushed by anti-racing groups and the minute amounts of the chemical found in the dogs that were tested were not the result of anyone intentionally giving the dogs drugs.
“We live in a contaminated world where there’s cocaine on everything,” Sarras said. He said the positive tests indicating cocaine in the dogs were the result of environmental contamination, not doping.
Tests for cocaine don’t actually measure cocaine itself, but benzoylecgonine, a metabolized derivative of the drug in urine. Sarras said federal drug screening guidelines for humans require a concentration of 150 nanograms per milliliter or more of the metabolized chemical to determine a positive drug test.
Sarras said the animals who tested positive for benzoylecgonine in Florida had concentrations of the chemical in their systems ranging from 10.7 to 36.5 nanograms per milliliter. “The levels have purposely been hidden from the general public,” he said.
“We love our animals,” Sarras said. “We take good care of them. Ask any of our veterinarians and they will speak very highly of us, especially the ones around Jacksonville where this happened.”
Thomas Tobin, a toxicologist, pharmacologist and veterinarian who serves as a professor at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, said the levels of benzoylecgonine found in the Florida dogs would not be unusual for animals that were exposed to cocaine in their surrounding environment.
But Carey Theil, executive director of the anti-racing group GREY2K, said the Florida doping scandal raises red flags about the treatment of dogs within the greyhound racing industry.
“We’ve never seen a (doping) case this big before,” said Theil. “To me it looks like a race-fixing case with one of the most prominent members of the greyhound community in the country.”
Sarras called allegations of intentional doping “completely unsubstantiated” and “without merit.” He said of the 12 dogs that tested positive in Florida earlier in the year, only three had actually won their races.
“Clearly it’s not a doping issue,” he said.
Delegate Cindy Frich, R-Monongalia, said the doping scandal provides another example of why greyhound racing should be stopped in West Virginia. “We need to pass legislation right away to end this practice,” she said.
Frich also has little trouble believing kennel owners would give their dogs cocaine in an attempt to enhance their performance.
“(The dogs) really hold no roles in the system unless they’re winning,” Frich said. “They’re put down not because they’re sick, but because they’re not performing.”
Tobin said racing greyhounds are under the control of the racetrack for a few hours before each race. He said cocaine is a quick-acting drug and would no longer be useful as a performance enhancer by that time.
West Virginia Kennel Owners Association spokesman Alan Pritt questioned Carmichael’s motive in sending the letter to the state Racing Commission.
“I don’t think it’s anything other than trying to find another way to end greyhound racing so they can get access to the money,” Pritt said.
Delegate Erikka Storch, R-Ohio, hopes not. Storch, president of the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce and a staunch supporter of the Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack, said dozens of people came out in support of Sarras when the Legislature was debating ending funding for greyhounds.
“I would like to think Sen. Carmichael is doing his due diligence in ensuring there’s no wrongdoing (in the state’s greyhound industry),” Storch said. “I don’t think he’s going to find it with Steve Sarras.”
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