"Rescue"... What is it?

It's one little word that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  It is a word that has been used to inflect hurt upon people; it is a word that has been used to describe the process of rehoming animals.  It is a word that generates images of pathetic, abused animals, which then generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for some group such as HSUS.  It is a word that has been properly used to describe animals taken out of horrific & shocking conditions.  One little word....  so many meanings.

In greyhounds, the word "rescue" was introduced to the lexicon to wound people, to hurt and destroy them, to dehumanize them, to place the greyhound racing community in as bad of a light as possible.  The word emerged from "breed rescues" such as Borzoi rescue, which is where abandoned and unwanted Borzoi were taken in and sheltered.

Grey2K Likes Crates at Home...  Crates are Good
Typical Home Crate is 31W x 48L x 34H

The word's connotation is something else. Most people who use it do so simply because it has become part of the general vocabulary. Racing people began the adoption model to "rescue" greyhounds from an older, agrarian culture which saw no reason to keep an animal that had outlived its usefulness, who saw no immorality in humane euthanasia, and did not perceive greyhounds as being necessarily "pets"---and to "rescue" them from the early animal rights zealots (ARZs) who, as John Hoyt of the HSUS said, preferred humane euthanasia to the "warehousing" of retired greyhounds. Early ARZs had portrayed the greyhound as vicious, bloodthirsty and trained to kill, during the great jackrabbit advocacy movement, which had a massive impact on generating a false public perception of the breed, and set racing's attempt at comprehensive adoption back by about a decade.

The people who use the word to harm and injure, and to sustain a negative stereotype, are like those who continually refer to our President using his middle name with emphasis purely to create the same negative effect. The majority of people are tragically misinformed about greyhounds. In today's racing/adoption model, there is no coercion. People willingly give their greyhounds to adoption groups who willingly see to their rehoming. No one forces anything upon anyone. Yet, when people use the term "rescue" it gives the impression that the racing industry had has been bad to them. However, there is a BIG difference between a dog that came off of a track to a dog wandering the streets.... No comparison at all.

Grey2K Calls Crates at Track "Abuse"
What's the difference? Track Crates are 36W x 48L x 36H

The "rescue" terminology, as it applies to racing greyhounds, is the bludgeon of the demagogue. It is used with malicious intent. It is a slur, a slur applied with a very broad brush, on those who do the right thing to the best of their ability. It is a slap in the face to the greatest majority of decent, hard-working, and dedicated folks who go without so their dogs are given every chance at full life before, during and after racing.

For years now, there is a group of money hungry lobbyists in the US that are trying to do away with dog racing. That group is Grey2K.  They started out here in the USA and now they have started working on Australia and the UK. While there are extremists everywhere, this particular group believe greyhounds are forced to race and racing them is cruelty. They prefer that the dogs be allowed to get fat and do nothing. To them, that meager existence is kindness. Grey2K excels at presenting the dogs, fit & trim, happy dogs in the prime of life, as abused and in danger of an imminent death that requires the dog be rescued.

They imply that the racing folks don't care and that they are only in it to "make a buck off the backs of the dogs".  They are propagandists and use their misinformation to pull on the heart strings of potential new income sources, enabling a kind of weird higher purpose for those donating. Personally, I get pretty darn pissed off about the whole thing.  All those wasted dollars would be better served going to actual adoption groups and/or local shelters. 

Words matter.  Words can hurt.  Try to keep that in mind when you generalize.

Yours in greyhounds...