Tied to April being National Adopt A Greyhound month, I conducted a roundtable discussion about the current state of racing greyhounds–and, mostly, former racing greyhounds.
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The panelists were Don Goldstein, affiliated with Greyhound Rescue And Adoptions of Tampa Bay (GREAT); Dr. Shelley Lake, a veterinarian in Kansas who was an assistant trainer at the Woodlands with deep involvement in foster/adoption work; Barbara Masi, president of Greyhound Pets of America Florida, Southeast chapter; and Michael McCann, president of The Greyhound Project. We addressed an array of topics, including how adoptions and other factors have been affected by the struggling economy, and more, such as the degree to which the dog racing industry funds these organizations. I also inquired about what has always struck me as the extremely cozy relationship between the tracks and many greyhound organizations, which led into my raising the philosophical divide amongst the greyhound organizations about the use of the term “rescue.” I tried to examine the percentage of former racing dogs that are adopted relative to those that aren’t–which typically means they’re euthanized–and there seemed to be a dearth of records or other paperwork documenting those numbers. I introduced other topics, including whether a more united front among greyhound groups wouldn’t lead to better, more uniform treatment of the dogs, if not a more rapid end to racing, and more. (www.adopt-a-greyhound.org, www.greyhoundpetsfl.org, www.great-greyhound.org)
COMEDY CORNER: Richard Jeni’s “Fred Robster” (www.RichardJeni.com)
MUSIC: Miss Redelle’s “The Greyhound Song,” Louis Jordan’s “Barnyard Boogie,” instrumentals
NAME THAT ANIMAL TUNE: Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”
