I Made A Remark...

By Carla Neubert Benoist

I made a remark on something Grey2K USA was posting the other day and got a really nasty response from a woman who was a follower. Then she sent a big apology because she checked my profile and finding me not to be one of those rich, corporate dog people making wealth off the backs of the poor greyhounds (eye roll) left her confused.

So, since she was confused, I figured she might actually read something so I wrote back (hoping she just Might actually check Rachel's information site out):

Kennel Fire @ Ebro Derby Lane

I wish they were helping greyhounds in any way, but from all of my research -- they are not... they are just taking in enough money to pay fat salaries to the hypocrites who started the group for their own benefit-- not for the wellbeing of the greyhounds.

People I consider friends include that wonderful young man who went into his kennel at Ebro Derby Lane when it was burning and at extreme risk to his own life and limb, saved every one of his dogs.. most of whom are on couches of their own today. I consider friends the good families who scrimp and struggle so that their dogs can have the best of care.... very few dog people grow rich. I respect people whose families have been raising and carrying for the NGA racing greyhound because of their love for them, for several generations... dogs who are born in their kitchens, who are loved as puppies and for the very best of these dog people, who are driven from training in Oklahoma to their first racing in Jacksonville in the back of friends SUVs because they won't put their dogs on haulers.

Aftermath of Ebro Derby Lane Kennel Fire

On the other hand... the unregulated bush racing that goes in all over the midwest and the southwest is where you get conditions like those that created the FWACC 28 (Ft Worth Animal Control, 28 greyhounds).... and several seizures since then. TRUE hell on earth for dogs -- but no one investigates or fights for them because it does not give enough publicity or bring in enough donations.

And I'd like to jail some of the owners I have adopted the 'bounce backs' from -- dogs who have been kept in crates in dark basements for up to 4 years, only taken outside once a day..... these "adopters" and the bush racers and the dog fighters... these people I'd like to string up and let die slowly. Not the racing greyhound owners who care well and lovingly for their dogs and whose dogs have better lives than most pets and are then cared for until suitable homes are found.

I don't care about me being offended... I care about the unfairness of your believing the lies and propaganda that Grey2K puts out and helps them destroy the lives of so many decent working families who LOVE their Greyhounds and do right by them.

Of course there's bad and good anywhere -- but as they say about the persecution of Pit Bulls-- judge the deed not the breed. Judge the cruelty wherever it happens, the irresponsibility where it happens... stop with the broad brush, which is far from accurate. Racers do no languish in small crates for most of the day.

Life at a Greyhound Track - Behind the Scenes - a set on Flickr