Where Is the Credibility of Grey2K?
By Dick Ciampa
November 11 2012

If you want to know about medicine you get the answer from a doctor.

If you want to know about teeth you get the answer from a dentist.

If you want to know about carpentry you get the answer from a carpenter.

If you want to know about plumbing you get the answer from a plumber.

And if you want to know about greyhounds you get the answer from two lawyers from Grey2K?

What do Christine Dorchak and her husband Carey Theil know about greyhounds? Neither has any direct experience with greyhound racing, has ever worked in a racing kennel, helped with turnout, scooped poop, or been involved with any aspect of daily life on a racing farm or in a racing kennel.

Their expertise has little to do with greyhounds, and everything to do with taking donors’ hard earned money through carefully crafted donation campaigns. Please click this link and examine the chart that breaks down how donation money is spent:

Grey2K Blog

Grey2K likes to highlight isolated incidents and characterize them as the norm. In spite of their claims about conditions and treatment, overwhelmingly racing greyhounds moving seamlessly from track to adoption where they adjust quickly and easily to life as pets. Those open to the facts will have a hard time reconciling the reality with the propaganda.

Grey2K likes to bring up Ronnie Williams, a singular, extremely sick individual, who was turned in by a person at the track. Grey2K pounced on his horrible, unspeakable crime and exploited it to show how cruel and inhumane the greyhound industry is. In fact, none were more inexpressibly horrified, sickened and angry than the people involved in racing. Yet Grey2K seized on this incident as an opportunity to ask for donations. The sad part is that many believed them and sent in their hard earned money.

Based on Grey2K’s tax returns, donation money contributes substantially to the founders’ joint income, in addition to which they travel domestically and abroad in the name of ending greyhound racing, subsidized by an additional chunk of donation contributions.

Grey2K is currently asking for an easy and tempting 50 cents per day ($15 per month), claiming greyhound breeders are running puppy mills. It’s a clever campaign, setting an amount most people can afford, in order to bring in small donations on a large scale that add up nicely.

Characterizing greyhound breeders as puppy millers couldn’t be further from the truth.

Greyhound breeders are the opposite of puppy millers. Puppy mills are generally covert operations that breed with no concern for health, genetic defects or temperament, and sell their puppies when barely weaned. Their dogs live in deplorable, crowded and filthy conditions.

On the other hand, greyhound breeders study pedigrees and racing records going back generations, consult with their peers, and breed very carefully with a view to health and soundness. Greyhound pups live, run and play with their siblings until around 18 months of age. The cost, care and training involved cannot be compared with the callous neglect of puppy mills.

You will not find racing greyhound breeders selling puppies out of the back of a truck in a mall parking lot, or placing their hounds in pet stores.

Racing greyhounds are one of the healthiest breeds in the world, devoid, for example, of hip dysplasia which is common and debilitating in many other breeds.

Greyhound breeders are inspected by the National Greyhound Association (NGA), and greyhound pups are registered with the NGA as well. Unregistered pups cannot race.

There are occasional “oops” litters when determined instinct overcomes the barriers meant to keep a female in heat apart from the males. The pups from these litters usually go directly into adoption, and are therefore not registered.

Since Grey2K was formed in 2000 they have never once called animal control or the police to report an act of cruelty or inhumane treatment. If greyhound breeders are puppy millers, where are the charges?

If cruelty and animal abuse are as rampant in the greyhound industry as Grey2K claims, they should have ended greyhound racing around the world many years ago. Every jurisdiction has laws against animal abuse. Where are the charges?

Instead they continue to solicit donations based on carefully designed campaigns, thanks to which donors financed their last trip to England.

When Grey2K was formed there were 49 states where greyhound racing was legal. Twelve years and millions of donors’ hard earned donated dollars later there are still 49 states where greyhound racing is legal.

Grey2K has banned betting on greyhound races in a few states, but never racing itself. Why would they not ban racing one might ask?

Carey Theil, co-founder and board member of Grey2K and Rev. Tom Gray, also a board member of Grey2K, are both also board members of the anti-gambling group Stop Predatory Gambling. This hardly seems coincidental and makes one wonder whether the agenda is about greyhounds, or whether the dogs are pawns in a campaign to end gambling.

Consider also Christine Dorchak’s story about getting hit by a speeding train (or, depending on which version you read, two trains). According to this story her dog Kelsey pulled her out of the way at the last second to prevent her from being killed, and as a result Kelsey was hit by the train and broke her hip.

In the police report there is no mention of an injured dog. In the interview with the engineer there is no mention of a dog. The engineer said he believed Christine Dorchak jumped. While she said it was a speeding train, the official police report said it was a TROLLEY going 10 MPH. Where is the truth?

Whenever any group asks you for a donation, it is always prudent to do some research beforehand, no matter how emotionally evocative their pleas are. Fundraising campaigns are very carefully, deliberately designed to maximize emotional impact and generate donations in response.
If you want to directly and meaningfully help greyhounds, donate to your local adoption group. Here is a directory, so you can find one near you:

Greyhound Adoption Directory