Greyhound Friends of Hopkington.... Killing Greyhounds - Part 3

I started writing this piece back in 2013. It's a difficult piece as each time I visit it, I think of the two greyhounds that Louise Coleman destroyed. At that time, my anger was too fresh and I set this aside.  It seems like a good time to finish this.

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HISTORY
Several years back, Greyhound Friends of Hopkington and Louise Coleman were held up as a "partner" by Grey2K, when they were refusing to take responsibility for the dogs in MA, dogs that were displaced by their efforts at lobbying the Legislature to ban & shut down greyhound racing. One has to wonder how Dorchak & Theil feel, what they think, about their pal, Louise destroying healthy dogs. After all, that's one of their claims that they have used and currently use to convince people that greyhound racing people and greyhound racing are cruel. It is their major claim that those in greyhound racing are uncaring; that the dogs are only a source of money to be used, spent, and then callously discarded.

UMR High Roller

The IRS 990 forms for Greyhound Friends of Hopkington show that the dogs do make a lot of money for some of those who take them FREE from owners, calling them rescues, presenting them as helpless & abused creatures, and then SELLING them for several hundred dollars.  The 2010 IRS 990 Form, shows that Greyhound Friends raked in more than $475,000 in grants & donations and their total assets are over $1,000,000!!!!  That's right folks - ONE MILLION PLUS!  That is a lucrative business!

It's even better than what Grey2K rakes in!

People have known that Louise has been AR (anti-racing) forever.  And as previously mentioned, she was one of the driving forces that campaigned & lobbied against greyhound racing in New England. She's been around for a very long time, doing this same thing, over & over, again & again.  When the greyhounds in Massachusetts found themselves displaced and with no place to go, her group, Greyhound Friends of Hopkinton, was one of the groups that refused to take responsibility for the dogs they caused to be displaced.  That's when Grey2K claimed them as a "partner".

In a blog post, Carey Theil of Grey2K writes,

"On Monday, we hosted a small party at the GREY2K USA office to celebrate the birthday of my adopted greyhound Zoe. Although this was a joyful occasion, it does remind me now of all the family birthday parties Bubbles Sidekick will never have."

What about the birthdays that neither 7 yr old Primco Yogi and 5 yr old UMR High Roller will never have?  Their destruction was not at the hands of a cruel & evil greyhound racing owner or trainer.  Their destruction was at the hands of a greyhound RESCUE group associated with Grey2K.  A group that destroyed them for no apparent reason other than they had been taking up space for several years.

I am happy to say that something good came about because of their deaths...  Louise Coleman & Greyhound Friends of Hopkington has a difficult time getting greyhounds for adoption anymore. Still...

By scouring public forums, I discovered that George Scheide tried to volunteer there once, only to be told, "we don't need any help." Excuse me? According to George, at that time, there was ONE person there. The number of dogs they had was twice their capacity and they would not even let George LOOK AT the dog they'd traveled over an hour to see. George was told, "he (the dog) is too shy." If the dog is that shy, then why is he on the web site as available for adoption?

UMR High Roller

Other comments from public forums show long time greyhound owners, including former adopters of greyhound friends, "blacklisted" and "persona non grata".  And, perhaps not so surprisingly, a comment surfaced that this was not the first time that Louise disposed a dog that she didn't like or thought was unadoptable.

So, OK, Roller & Yogi had some issues.  Let's look at Roller...

Roller was a black dog and black dogs are harder to find homes for because they are black. He also had issues as he would pee in his crate. He couldn't help his color and the other may have been either behavioral or medical. It is a known fact that neutered dogs can suffer from incontinence.  I had one.  Hormone injections fixed that problem.  However, Roller was never given the chance to be adopted. According to sources in the know, when adopters would come by to look at dogs, Roller was banished to the back kennel.

And Yogi?  What's his story?

Yogi was born without a tail. He was not the prettiest boy around so he too was deemed hard to adopt. Yogi, at least, had been placed in one home that wasn't a good fit for him. It is said that he was returned as he reportedly bit one of the family members.  From there on out, he too was banished to the back kennel.

Primco Yogi

If this is indeed how Roller & Yogi were handled, in my opinion, they were destroyed as a matter of convenience. They were used to solicit funds as poor, abused greyhounds, and then they were callously discarded when their usefulness was done.  Seems to me that Grey2K's friend of greyhounds, Louise Coleman, did exactly what she and the Grey2K organization falsely accuse the racing folks of doing - using, abusing, and discarding greyhounds.

What I cannot comprehend is why people think that people like Louise Coleman, Ingrid Newkirk, et al, are angels?  How and why do so many people praise and defend them and their actions? Yet these same defenders will condemn and call for the destruction of an animal owner who uses a horse to pull a buggy or a greyhound for racing. What logic exists that supports their defense of those who use animals for political purposes, killing them when they become inconvenient vs their condemnation of those who have animals that work for a living?

Yogi's former owner & handler wrote,

"I can't even read all these posts! I am ANGRY and HURT! That ***** woman PROMISED me! That ****** woman has my phone number! I would have taken MY dog if I had been alerted of the plan! Yogi did NOT have a roman nose but his tail looked like that of a bunny! Oh my dog, do I have stories about this guy! I loved him! When my tears clear, I will read all comments in this thread. He won races! He had personality! He traveled the country! He was abused, I mended him and he won me more races! He had an invite to palm beach to run.. Till the kennel owner wanted to get a look at him and got snarled at! When I got him back from Arizona 8 lbs underweight and 12 bedsores on each pressure point I PROMISED HIM he would have a couch someday! OMG I m angry! I could have brought him home if I would have known! He would NEVER had bitten me! It was only a year ago I spoke to Louise and got some phony reassurance! What are my options now? I'm going to dig out all my pics and have a vigil! RIP Yogi! I m so sorry! This just isn't fair and I think Louise Coleman should pay for this and WE need to prevent this from EVER happening again! I m at a big loss in my heart!

Yogi had an option that was not exercised! I'm not sure the vet he saw had any biz giving advice. I handled Yogi for nearly 3 yrs! I knew him. How much time did the Vet spend with him!??? And if he bit Pats hubby... Obvious he was afraid of men! Thank you to the man in Tucson that was handling him!"

So, we know that Yogi had at least one option that was not explored.  If the former owner cared  enough to follow up on the dog, to leave their phone number with instructions to call, why wouldn't they be called?  Is it because they are a racing person?  Is that the only reason and is it a good enough reason?

I don't get it.  But, what I do get is that people like Coleman, Newkirk, and the Grey2K crowd need to be stopped.  They need to be stopped from destroying those that are inconvenient to their purposes: man & beast.

Yours in greyhounds...

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Following are some random comments scoured from the various forums on this sordid situation. Names have been deleted for privacy reasons.

"She gets so much praise and glory for the things she does for some reason. She was questioned on Greytalk a few weeks back for an adoption situation and people flocked to the thread to defend her. I have personally spoken to about 10 to 20 former adopters from them that hate her now because of issues post adoption also!"

"You always hope and pray once a dog gets into adoption it's cared for and loved as it's been all it's life."

"This is a horrible outcome for these hounds. I am not grouping all ARs together, but clearly AR does not always equal pro-life for the hounds."

"Coleman has done this sort of thing before. It's not something new to her as if she'd just gone off the deep-end. It's part of her SOP."

"Does anyone find it odd that greyhound trainers (at race tracks) handled these dogs and found them safe and sane to place into the greyhound adoption world??? I honestly can't see a trainer willingly placing a known problem dog into the greyhound adoption world. Call me silly but if I had such an aggressive dog in my kennel I can't say I would place it with a group."

"I can't say this surprises me from Louise. I wouldn't have trusted her with a dead fish."

"She (Coleman), her group, and a few others do a lot of things behind backs. I remember the mess with the Galgos... She placed two Galgos a number of years ago...Sari and Talco..only one survived...long story.... She can talk a wonderful game...but don't turn your back on her."

"I personally tried to spring Roller out for a friend, and they did everything in their power to try to talk me into another dog.....When I said I only wanted him they cut all contact...I have a short email chain that refers to this.. Promised they would have the "boarding kennel" where he was located call me to talk about him, I never heard so much as a peep! I sent emails after the phone conversation too with no replies. I was also told that GH Friends reportedly were telling people that I had changed my mind which was B.S!"

"I was contacted by a former volunteer. According to the volunteer this is common practice. In the year and a half that his person volunteered with them they had seven dogs PTS!!!"

"They can delete all the posts they want this is not going away. They didn't reach out for help because they didn't want help. This has happened before. They have a "back kennel" where "outsiders" are not allowed. I spoke with a former volunteer that said there were seven euthanized in a short period of time. They are killing the dogs they think will be or have proven to be difficult to place. This is bigger than Yogi and Roller. Yogi and Roller were not dangerous mentally ill dogs. They were an inconvenience and expense that they no longer wanted to be bothered with."

"Destroyed by an anti-racing "rescue" group, who called him unadoptble. Yet, his trainer says, "He was a sweet dog, full of personality and a kennel favorite." They say he bit. No outreach to his connections. Just death."