# Greyhound tragedy...



## plumcrazy

This is absolutely sickening and should never have happened... A friend of mine from the Bismarck Kennel Club has a rescued OTT greyhound and she received the following newsletter from the Minnesota Greyhound Rescue organization and forwarded it to the Kennel Club list serve. I hurt for these poor, innocent souls... :sad:

Hello Greyhound Friends,
Today's newsletter contains some very hard, but very important news for anyone who loves greyhounds. It's a difficult read, but I hope that you will read it anyway. We all need to be aware that things like this do still go on within the racing industry. 

A little background information... It is common in the racing world for dogs to move from track to track during their "careers." Some tracks have a higher level of competition, and therefore larger purses to be won. Once a dog is no longer competitive there, they might move to a less competitive track to try again. And so on, until their owners feel that they are no longer a good investment.

The track mentioned in this story, Ebro in Florida, is a dead-end track. It's a place dogs get sent when their owners want to try to suck a few more dollars out of them, instead of sending them out for adoption....or worse. 
Many of you who adopted hounds through MNGR have ex-racers from the Dairyland track. Be aware today of how lucky those hounds are. Because many of their kennelmates (and even littermates) were sent to Ebro when the Dairyland track closed last year.

This situation happened in Florida, but these could have been any of OUR GREYHOUNDS. They were hounds just like the ones on your couch right now. Hounds who deserved the chance at a new life, and a family. Hounds who were young and healthy. Hounds who suffered unimaginably, and who died, for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Groups all over the country (including MNGR) are taking dogs from Florida. GPA-Emerald Coast had made it clear that they would take responsibility for all Ebro racers when the track closed for the season. That makes these deaths all the more infuriating. 

Please go here to read the article:

33 Greyhounds Found Dead at Ebro, 4 Others near death 

Many of you will want to know how you can help. The first and most obvious way is to adopt a greyhound! Get just one more dog out of this awful life and into safety. You can also let MNGR know that you'd be willing to foster (please note that we send foster dogs only to current adopters or previous greyhound owners), so that when Florida hauls come in, we can take in the maximum number of dogs. You can donate money to a greyhound group. Groups in Florida like GPA-Emerald Coast and GPA-Daytona need the help desperately! But if you prefer to donate someplace that you know, MNGR does take in Florida hauls and just took in 4 hounds with repaired broken hocks, one of whom will need additional surgery. 

Lastly, you can write letters to express your outrage over this situation. Grey2KUSA sent the following letter to the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering today. Help demand justice for the dogs and write your own letter!

http://grey2kusa.org/pdf/LT_TO_FL DIVISION_OF_PARIMUTUEL-WAGERING _(EBRO) 11-1-10.pdf

Hug your hounds, be grateful for them, and then help make sure nothing like this ever happens again. We must see the end of greyhound racing.


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## CharismaticMillie

That is absolutely horrible. Terrible. I would do anything to rescue a greyhound..if only I wasn't allergic!


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## Spencer

Oh my God. This is sickening and it makes me so sad.

I am and forever will be surprised at the terrible things human beings do to animals, and even other people. 

I am, on the other hand, so grateful for those people who have big enough hearts and strong enough will power to help these and other animals out. To think, that this could have been my greyt boy... or the boy my parents still have, or even any of their other greys.


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## Spencer

ChocolateMillie said:


> That is absolutely horrible. Terrible. I would do anything to rescue a greyhound..if only I wasn't allergic!


Oddly enough, I have met many people with bad allergies that can actually live and be around greyhounds. Mine isn't a shedder, but we had one growing up that was... guess it just depends on the hound!


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## CharismaticMillie

Spencer said:


> Oddly enough, I have met many people with bad allergies that can actually live and be around greyhounds. Mine isn't a shedder, but we had one growing up that was... guess it just depends on the hound!


Well shedding is less of an issue to me than the actual presence of dander. Poodles have very little dander and seem to be the only dogs that don't cause me to start wheezing! I guess I will have to give support for greyhounds in other ways!


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## ArreauStandardPoodle

OMG!!!! I could curse, I could scream, I could cry!!!!!!! I know what these wonderful dogs are like to live with. What the hell is wrong with human beings? Poor, poor souls. If only humans with their infinite lust for money would just boycott tracks that race dogs, this kind of disgusting crap would not be happening. But that will never happen because of the infinite greed.

My heart breaks, and I thank God there are organizations that rescue them. I would take one in a heart beat AFTER my cat is no longer with us. What a world!!!!!


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## 1Jurisdiva

This is so horrifying - having grown up with and loved rescue greyhounds I can't even imagine my Vincent going through such things. As soon as I am in the position to no longer be a renter I will have a greyhound always.

If anyone knows anyone curious about the adoption process feel free to pm me and I will be happy to give them my email or phone number to talk to them about the process.


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## Locket

Those poor greys...what a tragedy...I cannot wait to adopt one. So disgusting. I hate humanity.



ArreauStandardPoodle said:


> I would take one in a heart beat AFTER my cat is no longer with us. What a world!!!!!


Many greys are cat safe!!! Not that you have room for one more doggy!


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## ArreauStandardPoodle

Locket said:


> Those poor greys...what a tragedy...I cannot wait to adopt one. So disgusting. I hate humanity.
> 
> 
> 
> Many greys are cat safe!!! Not that you have room for one more doggy!


Oh, I would make room! I was told the racing Greys are trained with live kittens or rabbits. My kitty is 16 and does not need to be hassled, so I will wait and see what the future holds. But ohhhhhhh...I want to. The whole this is so disgusting.


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## Fluffyspoos

My state has zero gambling, no horse races, no dog races, no casinos, no lottery.

That's horrible =/ I was expecting the article to be bigger though with such a big loss. Poor dogs.


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## pudlemom

This happened not more that 30 miles from my home the local adoption group had already offered to take the dogs and adopt them out or give the guy the food to feed them but he did not take them up on there offer I just can't figure out why he would not have taken them up on their offer what makes people be so cruel. I think they should do the same to him ,he is in a cage(jail) now so lets just not feed him for a week and see how he feels. 
Today they found another 8 that were dumped under an bridge such a tragedy and was totally preventable.


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## plumcrazy

pudlemom said:


> Today they found another 8 that were dumped under an bridge such a tragedy and was totally preventable.


I just heard about the additional deceased dogs they found under a bridge when I was at our kennel club meeting tonight.  

The only thing I can think of that this sorry excuse for a human being was thinking by not turning the dogs over to rescue or taking the food they offered is that it was much _easier _for him to just lock the door and walk away (well... easier at the TIME, maybe - hopefully he'll have ample punishment to make him realize this was NOT the way to handle things!!)

My heart is with these poor, sad souls...

Barb


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## WonderPup

I'm not glad that this happened but I AM glad to see it posted here. I think it's important for as many people as possible to know about this  Those poor dogs. I don't live to far away from Ebro and have been once or twice, though not to bet on races or anything. We saw this on the local news. I can remember my grandfather going pretty often watch the dog races and you didn't dare suggest to him that he shouldn't or that the dog's weren't treated well. I wish they'd shut this track down...


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## Feathersprings

The whole racing greyhound thing makes me sick  My husband and i adopted two of these dogs a few years ago. We fell in love immediately. Draco was the love of my life for 3 1/2 short years . There was always something not quite right with him.. nothing we could pinpoint except that he was extremely fearful of everyone except us.. with me he was a big (86 lb.) clown! The first thing i noticed when he arrived at 18 mos old was that he had muscles everywhere.. even in his face!! ( steroids?) afte a short time he " softened" and was a beautiful dog. at 5 yrs old he had a sudden severe seizure and went downhill quickly.. he was dead in 2 weeks  Most likely a brain tumor. We have another Grey, LusaLu.. she has terrible anxiety and we have had to put her on Prozac.. not sure if it is helping she also is temporarily on valium to try and break the cycle she is in... this dog was always "quirky" but suddenly has developed strange night time behaviors..pacing , trembling,trying to climb through closed windows, eating door frames etc. , we are quite afraid of what might develop. We are working with a Grey knowledgeable vet. At this point.. I want the racing to stop.. not for people to need to rescue them ...sorry to rant on but I am missing my boy tonight and then read this..RIP Draco... Hoolie, my sweet poodle boy, has big shoes to fill...


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## ArreauStandardPoodle

Draco was just beautiful. So, so sad! I love Whippets and Greyhounds and know what inoffensive, gentle souls they are and this is just painful!


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## whitepoodles

OMG !!!! I am SO appalled and sickened by the photo of this poor starving greyhound. 

At times I am trully ashamed to be part of the human race.. SHAME ON the ones who allow this to happen.

I am speachless... and so disgusted.


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## Birdie

Greyhound racing makes me so sick. 
I love sight hounds to death, and was sooo close to adopting a rescue former racing Greyhound before I got Desmond. We were searching in local rescues for a dog, but couldn't quite find one... I stumbled upon a Greyhound Rescue booth at a community picnic/fair, and sat and talked with them for a while and met the dogs. They were wonderful, and I have always loved sight hounds... I was extremely close to getting one, but my mom really knew I should get a puppy and a dog with grooming needs. I know it was for the best that I got Desmond, but I do wish I could have helped one of those gorgeous, sweet hounds get a home. 

That article, while short, makes me so upset. I don't understand how people could do that to an animal, let alone 30.


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## whitepoodles

Hence the saying "the more I know people, the more I love my dog"

There is some truth to this although many people I have met are kind and good. It is the ones that do these horrible things that give humanity such a bad reputation.


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