Thursday, March 15, 2012

Grey2K - Lies & Trolls

Grey2K USA (Grey2K) Lies and Trolls
By Elaine Summerhill

Well, I tired of playing with the troll, Eric McDonald (http://tinyurl.com/7uxpgnd). I find him to be boorish and that is being kind. He is typical of those involved in the animal rights movement - loud, grating, strident, and uncivil. He is, as my dear departed mother would say, "crude, rude & socially unacceptable" and my mom was from the 'wrong side of the tracks'!

In response to McDonald's latest diatribe to a comment of mine...
Dated: March 15, 2012

Eric McDonald - I have no questions for you because you have no idea about that of which you speak. You are truly ignorant on the subject of greyhounds and greyhound racing. Perhaps, when you decide to grow up and be an adult, you will be worth my time and effort, but until then, you are not. You are close minded and only wish to believe rhetoric spouted by a so called "advocacy" group that does nothing for greyhounds - that provides no direct services, but yet they take a good 23% of the donations for their own salaries.

Also, Grey2K USA supports at least one board member, Karyn Zoldan, who has made racist & bigoted statements on public forums, i.e., "middle class, educated white people do not go to bet on the dogs" and "...it looks like Auschwitz" (a comparison of a greyhound kennel to the notorious Nazi death camp where millions died). While it is true that her statements were removed from the forum, upper management (Carey Theil and Christine Dorchak) at Grey2K have not stepped up to the plate to either condemn or apologize for those statements.

Regardless of one's position on racing, I strongly urge people to donate to their local greyhound adoption group or to their local humane society. To donate to groups such as HSUS, PeTA, and Grey2K is to put money in the pockets of people who do nothing for the animals. It is a well known fact that PeTA kills pets with more than a 90% euthanization rate for animals which are turned into them for rehoming. Grey2K is associated with the domestic terrorist group, ALF (Animal Liberation Front) and Ms. Dorchak was a keynote speaker at an ALF event. HSUS is a lobbying group looking to ban pet ownership, among other things.

I've been in the business (and it is a business) of finding homes for retired greyhounds since the mid-1990's (1995). In that time, I've gone from being anti-racing to being supportive of the racing people who do it right. I've learned a great deal about this breed, including that you cannot make a greyhound race. They race regardless.  it is part of their psyche... their being.  It is unfortunate, but sometimes greyhounds get hurt while racing. Even so, a statistical analysis of those injuries show an injury rate of less than 1%. The injury rate (all injuries) is 0.03%. That is an irrefutable fact or, if you prefer, an incontrovertible fact - one that cannot be disputed, cannot be argued, cannot be contested. It is a fact. No matter how much Eric McDonald screams, whines & cries... only 0.03% of dogs are injured in greyhound racing. I would venture to guess that that is a great deal less than in the general greyhound pet population, where I'm constantly seeing requests for help because a dog has been injured in some manner in the backyard or on a walk.

Do bad people exist in greyhound racing?  Of course they do. However, they exist in all walks of life: education, the workplace, and in parenting. Bad people are a fact of life. Greyhound racing needs to be commended because they have been working and are continuing to remove the bad people from the sport. Greyhound racing people are continuing to work to put every last adoptable greyhound into pet homes. Much has changed within greyhound racing and the people who are now involved consider it their duty to do the best they can - every step of the way from whelping to death. They are there for the adopters, should the adopters contact them. It is sad that many AR groups REFUSE to pass on the racing owner's contact info or to even tell the adopters that they can contact the owner. They REFUSE to tell the adopters about having their dogs pet registered with the NGA. Instead, they tell people that they "saved" the dogs, spirited them away and that if they contact the racing people, the racing people will take the dogs away.  They lie...

Please visit All About Greyhounds and/or Grey2K Lies for more info. (end reply)

I'd like to add, at this time, Mr. McDonald has received numerous offers from racing folk to visit a track, a kennel, a farm to discover greyhound racing for himself. He has not accepted any of them. If things were as bad as he believes and states, I would think he'd be quick to go so he could take photographs to promote his allegations, so he could REPORT the racing folks to the proper authorities.  Instead, he'd rather slander & libel them in public forums with no proof what-so-ever.

I ask people to please decide for yourself. If you have the opportunity, please visit a greyhound kennel and meet those deeply involved with this breed. I did and, as stated, I went from being an anti-racing supporter to being a supporter of people doing racing the right way. I am not the only, former anti-racing person out there who has changed their beliefs. There are a LOT of us and, funny thing, most of us are or have been involved deeply and for many years in greyhound adoption. Go figure... I hope some of the former "anti's" read this post and comment.

Elaine

PS - I truly believe that Eric McDonald and Eric Jackson, Grey2K Board Member, are one in the same. I suspect if you read their posts often enough, you would probably come to the same conclusion.

6 comments:

  1. I guess I was AR when I adopted my first greyhound in late 2002. I did some preliminary research on the breed and jumped in with both feet. Greyhounds were few and far between in my "neck of the woods" and I listened to what my fellow adopters told me. Than I adopted my second greyhound and watched my tiny little pack running in the yard and saw the joy on their faces. Was racing really a bad thing? So I made it a point to learn as much as I could. I made contacts with kennel owners, trainers, adoption reps. Anyone who would talk to me and answer my questions. Hmmm...seems all owners/trainers weren't that evil after all.

    The learning continues in my volunteer position with an adoption group. I have established good relationships with all the trainers and tracks our group works with. I feel comfortable approaching the trainers and asking questions and I encourage our new adopters to maintain contact.

    I've come full circle since those early days. When my puppy starts racing, I will be her biggest supporter.

    Everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I wish people would make an educated decision. Not just blindly follow the leader.

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  2. Love your passion for Greyhounds. Love your commitment to Greyhounds. I admire and wholeheartedly agree with your well written article.

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  3. On many occasions, I have told Eric McDonald and Eric Jackson that their "videos" don't prove anything. The video of the kennel at Tucson Greyhound Park shows a clean kennel, dogs on carpet, water buckets in the crates, a supply of red meat in the freezer. The "investigator" says the dogs are in darkness. Yes...the lights are out! The way the "investigator" narrated it made it sound like a hell hole, which was far from the truth. The race video that "shows" a dog being electrocuted is false. The video shows a dog falling in the race. The dog is nowhere near the rail, and there is no evidence of the dog being electrocuted, but Grey2K says that's what happened, so people believe it. I suppose if Christine Dorchack was standing in a puddle, and they said she walks on water, the minions would believe it!

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  4. I have a retired Greyhound and a Borzoi rescue. I love them both very much. They light up my existence. I am grateful for articles like this that cite facts and not hateful like the opposition. I am also grateful for the kennels that work with adoption groups to get these great dogs to forever homes.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for loving your dogs so much and for taking the time to comment on our blog.

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  5. Something's missing from your diatribe, Mr. McDonald/Jackson/whatever. Where are the incriminating videos of G2K minions' ubiquitous overfed, underexercised greyhounds dying of liver failure and diabetes? Where is the incriminating photo of Ms. Dorchak's greyhound off lead on a busy city sidewalk?

    There are accidents in any endeavor that requires physical activity. It's a shame, and everything possible should be done to minimize them, but we can't put every creature in a padded room and encase them in bubble wrap to make sure they never get hurt. As the article stated, the racing injury rate is very, very low -- much lower than that of high school football, in which 2 million out of the 7 million participating athletes are injured each season. Heck, it's even lower than the rate of injury requiring a doctor's care in children's soccer tournaments, which is about 3%. (http://www.momsteam.com/sports/high-school-football-has-highest-severe-injury-rate) (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/105/3/659.full)

    I had a G2K member tell me, in that holier-than-thou tone they have, that she had dedicated her life to making sure that HER greyhound would "never, EVER have to run again."

    I felt sorry for the animal she had on the lead -- an obese, dull-eyed, rough coated greyhound, that while still young, clearly no longer had the desire nor the physical ability to stretch out and run as God intended her to do. The poor dog could scarcely waddle along after her owner.

    I was sickened -- I had to go home and turn my own two hounds out for a rip-roaring run just to see the sparkle in their eyes as they ran back to me, muscles rippling and tongues lolling, competing to see who got back first, looking like the greyhounds they were born to be.

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