RIP Grey2k_Florida 2012_A Post Mortem to Another
Campaign of Politicking and Donation Seeking
By Dennis Mckeon
Posted on American Greyhounds.com
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Attention all Florida Greyhounds!
The good news is that the latest legislation designed to “protect” you from what it is that nature ordained you to do, what it is you have been bred to do for nearly 100 years, and what it is that you love to do the most in the world—yes, even more than sleeping--is DEAD.
The bad news is that you guys will still have to put up with those long, boring turnouts with your kennelmates, clowning around like silly muppets, or lolling about in the sunlight and the soft breezes, as if you were drunk with the feel of it.
You’ll still have to endure those awful grooming sessions and massages, maybe even those torturous whirlpool baths you dislike so much.
You’ll still have to go down to the sprint fields and run around like possessed maniacs with your pack-pals, and get your feet and toes washed afterwards, when you’d rather be sleeping it off in your very own den, in your very own bed, in your very own community.
You’ll still have to go on long, tedious walks with your trainers, stepping on slugs, weeds and other flora and fawna, watching out for bees, woodchucks and squirrels.
You’ll still have to go to the track and “ham it up” with all the handlers there (those young girl leadouts are especially fond of “invading your space”, aren’t they?). Then you’ll still have to race after that stupid lure as if there were nothing else in the world you’d rather do then “hunt” as part of a pack, the way your ancestors have done since pre-historic times.
And afterwards, you’ll still have to wait until you’ve been cooled out, washed off, checked over and maybe even rubbed-down, before eating your dinner and sacking out for the night, along with the rest of your pleasantly fatigued colony.
We know how much you detest all of that. Maybe if it weren’t for all of that unthinkably cruel force, fuss and routine, and all that abusive, constant picking at you, some of you might actually make good personal or family pets when you were done racing. Oh ya sure.
Anyhow, Grey2k has announced that they have again failed to sway the representatives of the people of Florida that they should banish a significant segment of their constituency to the breadline, with the mere stroke of a pen. The thousands of people who earn their living in State-regulated Greyhound Racing, it’s infrastructure and networks, for at least another year, don’t have to worry about being carted off in handcuffs either, for simply practicing their trade, and care-taking their Greyhounds, as did their brethren in Massachusetts. The greyhounds don’t have to worry about the potential humane crisis of thousands of them overwhelming the existing adoption networks, and watching Grey2k shrug shoulders, walk away and tell them, in not so many words, “it’s not our problem”, as they did in Massachusetts in 2008.
In a recent, heart-breaking blog, Grey2k’s Blogger-In-Chief gave us a glimpse into just how he and his group of animal rights fanatics and propagandists have been the victims of the demonic forces who participate in and support greyhound racing. Those forces are, of course, that small class of working people, whose livelihoods and lives Grey2k has worked feverishly, for a decade, to destroy, by waging a very public and outrageous smear campaign against them.
Such zealous dedication toward demonizing and negatively stereotyping one’s fellow citizens, should, after all, be rewarded, shouldn’t it?. Those “rewards” Grey2k seeks are to see every greyhound racing professional in the USA standing in line at the unemployment office.
And, lest we forget, to see the Racing Greyhound breed, a thriving population of supremely functional athletes (who have become a pet phenomenon in retirement), reduced to fringe status--left to the mercies of backyard breeders, puppy millers and coyote hunters—and for all intents and purposes, driven to extinction. This is the essence of their so-called “advocacy”—their “reward”.
The VICTIM-In-Chief laments:
“Their angry rhetoric and personal attacks are meant to distract attention from the facts at hand.”
I know it’s hard to understand how people whose very societal and cultural viability has been challenged by Grey2k and their supporter’s unceasing, unsubstantiated and unreported-to-the-authorities allegations of routine and widespread brutality, cruelty, and abuse could possibly take exception to the deliberate “Ronnie Williams-ing” of each and every one them. But after 40 years of various animal rights, fanatical groups’ unconscionable assaults on their character, occupation, lifestyle and culture, they have finally begun to find their voice. And Grey2k doesn’t like it one bit.
Since there are hundreds of thousands of people who have adopted retired Racing Greyhounds, the loving, good nature of the breed is no longer a secret. A functional canine breed's general temperament and disposition are largely a result of genetics, their raising, their training, their handling and their environment. A population of dogs who were brutalized and abused at every stage of their lives, could simply never have become the sensation that the Racing Greyhound has become as a personal and family pet. It’s an elementary matter of cause-and-effect. The Racing Greyhound is the loving and beloved pet phenomenon he is, BECAUSE of his racing bloodlines, environment and experiences--not in spite of them. That’s the way dogs work.
But more on how Grey2k has been victimized:
“They would rather attack greyhound protection advocates than debate the merits of dog racing…”
Sounds as if the Blogger-In-Chief is “projecting”, doesn’t it?… especially since racing supporters or professionals are routinely censored or banned from commenting on his blogs.
“…debate the merits of dog racing?”, eh?... I’m your Huckleberry. Say when.
"I know their idiosyncracies..what toys they like, what beds they prefer, the sounds they make..how they're feeling at any given moment. That's a connection you simply can't have with a greyhound you have never even met"_____Eric NM, Grey2K Board Member
Cordially yours,
Dennis McKeon