Six years after the end of live dog racing, Tucson Greyhound Park will close "for good" later this month, the park's owners announced Thursday.

Once considered a prime pastime, dog racing has collapsed in the U.S., and while the park attempted to pivot toward off-track betting, including hosting simulcasts of major horse races, this hasn't been enough to keep the venue viable.

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Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, a longtime critic of the park and its treatment of the lanky canines, called the park's end "none too soon," and hoped the park's 60 acres could be developed into a new commercial site.

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"The track here was known as a kill track," Kozachik said, a place where dogs come at the end of their racing careers. Dogs that were unwanted were left in the desert for dead, Kozachik said, adding that before the end of live racing, he helped "expose multiple" incidents, including the times when dogs hit the electrified rail and were killed.