HuffPost contributor Rahel Gebreyes on Grey2K USA and its co-founder, Christine Dorchak.'>

HUFFPOST WRITER SHOULD BE ASHAMED, SAYS NGA

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HuffPost.com, a prominent online news site, should insist on a “higher standard of reporting,” according to National Greyhound Association (NGA) Executive Director Gary Guccione. The comment was contained in Guccione’s May 26 response to a recent article by HuffPost contributor Rahel Gebreyes on Grey2K USA and its co-founder, Christine Dorchak. Here is the full text of the letter:

Dear Editor: Rahel Gebreyes should have done some responsible journalistic homework before posting her story on Grey2K USA’s campaign against greyhound racing. Even allowing for the elastic standards of “citizen journalism,” HuffPost should insist on a higher standard of reporting.

Grey2K founder Christine Dorchak and her husband, Carey Theil, are famous for misrepresenting the facts about greyhound racing, probably because the truth doesn’t help them raise the six-figure amounts needed to pay their combined salaries and lobbying fees.

The claim that just anyone can breed, register and race a greyhound is simply absurd. Greyhound breeders must be members of the NGA in order to register the dogs they breed, and all greyhounds must be registered in order to race at any U.S. track. Breeders pay a sizeable fee to register each greyhound, and they spend additional sums to care for and train the dogs in preparation for their racing careers. It takes a serious commitment to be competitive in the sport.

The NGA enforces rigorous greyhound welfare standards for breeders and kennel operators. Breeding farms are subject to unannounced inspections to verify compliance with those standards. Anyone found guilty of serious animal welfare violations is banned from greyhound racing for life, and other industry members are prohibited from doing business with that individual.

The best proof that Dorchak’s claims are bogus is the greyhounds themselves. Greyhounds are gentle, loving animals that are very comfortable being around people as well as other animals. They make wonderful pets–which wouldn’t be the case if they had been mistreated or abused during their racing careers.

In fact, more than 95 percent of all registered greyhounds are adopted or returned to the farm as pets or breeders when they retire. Between the high rate of adoption and the declining numbers of greyhounds bred, many greyhound adoption groups are actually having trouble finding enough retired racers to meet the demand.

Your readers should take Christine Dorchak’s bogus claims for what they’re worth–nothing more than worn-out, baseless attacks designed to attract donations from well-meaning but poorly informed animal lovers. Rahel Gebreyes’ one-sided article perpetuated the deception. Both she and Dorchak should be ashamed of themselves.

A CAPITOL CAMPAIGN AGAINST HSUS

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As if the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) didn’t have enough problems, it’s now feeling the impact of a massive advertising campaign focused right where it lives–on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

HumaneWatch.org, already well known for its frequent and effective attacks on HSUS, announced yesterday that it has posted dozens of anti-HSUS ad posters throughout the Metro subway station located right next to House of Representatives offices. The posters call attention to HSUS’ abysmal record when it comes to funding local animal shelters. House staffers can’t help but get the message–it’s everywhere.

The campaign includes at at least 10 different ad layouts, each featuring a lovable dog or cat, a tactic right out of the HSUS playbook. One ad features a squatting dog, with the message, “HSUS doesn’t give squat to pet shelters.” Another shows a cat wearing reading glasses, with the headline, “Read the fine print. HSUS only gives 1% of its budget to local pet shelters.”

One of the most compelling ads doesn’t feature a pet at all. Instead, it features a state-by-state map of the U.S. showing how little HSUS donates to pet shelters in each state. The map is an invaluable tool for educating state legislators who have been inundated with HSUS’ deceptive claims.

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DISCOVER TERMINATES RELATIONSHIP WITH HSUS

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The “Discover the Scam” campaign conducted by HumaneWatch.org has succeeded in convincing Discover Card to discontinue its partnership with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). In a news release announcing the victory, HumaneWatch officials noted that HSUS stands to lose anywhere from $450,000 to $2 million or more in expected revenue as a result of the decisions.

The HumaneWatch news release also noted that its supporters have a “history of activism when it comes to asking companies not to partner with the deceptive HSUS.” In previous campaigns, YellowTail Wines and Pilot Travel Centers ended joint efforts with HSUS in response to pressure from “HumaneWatchers.”

In view of the big victory, HumaneWatch has called off its campaign against Discover. If you’re one of the savvy consumers who put your Discover card on hold during the boycott, you can use it again in good faith, knowing that those dollars won’t end up in the pockets of the people trying to put you out of business.

ANIMAL RIGHTS FLORIDA: DON’T SUPPORT GREYHOUND ADOPTION

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We’ve been saying for years that animal rights groups are not about greyhound welfare. Recently, a Florida animal rights group did something that proved our point. The incident was reported by local news channel WFTV in Orlando.

For the past two years, Lyman High School in Longwood Florida has held “Man vs. Greyhound” races at Sanford Orlando Kennel Club. The purpose of the event was to raise money to benefit greyhound adoption. The greyhound is Lyman High School’s mascot, so the students feel a personal attachment to the canine racers that symbolize their school spirit.

According to the WFTV report, it’s considered a “badge of honor” for graduating seniors to race the greyhounds for charity.

But this year, there will be no students vs. greyhound races. Under pressure from a local activist group, Animal Rights Florida (ARF), school board officials have forced Lyman to cancel the event. For students it’s a disappointment, but for those who work so hard to promote greyhound adoption, it’s a slap in the face.

“There’s nothing humane or compassionate about blocking greyhound adoption efforts,” said AGC Communications Coordinator Gary Guccione. “Animal rights groups like ARF raise money under the pretense that they are helping greyhounds, but the reality is the opposite.”

Greyhound adoption has become a national success story, with more than 95 percent of all registered greyhounds adopted or returned to the farm when their racing careers are over. “Animal rights groups do absolutely nothing to promote or support greyhound adoption,” Guccione said. “When it comes to programs that actually benefit greyhounds, groups like ARF are pretty much MIA–missing in action.”

GREY2K PEDDLES FALSE PROPAGANDA, AGC TELLS DUBUQUE NEWSPAPER

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In a letter submitted today to the editor of the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, AGC Communications Coordinator Gary Guccione accused Grey2K USA of “peddling false propaganda” and basing its campaign against greyhound racing on “myth and misrepresentation.”

The letter was a response to a February 18 article about the new “report” on greyhound racing published last week by Grey2K and ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), one of Grey2K’s wealthiest funding partners. Grey2K founder Christine Dorchak held a press event in Dubuque to tout the expensive hit piece.

“This phony report is classic Grey2K, riddled with distortions and falsehoods,” wrote Guccione. He noted that this is nothing new to Grey2K, citing a November 6, 2000 editorial in the Boston Herald that described Grey2K’s push to ban greyhound racing in Massachusetts “a ruthless campaign of deceit, distortion and defamation of character.”

The letter also highlighted ASPCA’s “serious credibility problem.”

“In 2013, ASPCA was one of several animal rights groups that paid a total of nearly $16 million to settle a lawsuit stemming from their false allegations of elephant abuse against Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. When the lawsuit against Ringling was thrown out because the animal rights accusers had paid the key witness to lie under oath, the circus counter-sued under federal racketeering statutes. The animal rights groups agreed to pay the multi-million dollar settlement to avoid allowing the case against them to proceed to trial in open court. All this is well documented in court records and media reports,” Guccione continued.

The letter concluded, “Unfortunately, the truth doesn’t help groups like Grey2K and ASPCA raise money. We can only hope that policy makers and the public look beyond the hysterical hype and make their decisions based on the true facts.”

 

HSUS GOES ALL OUT TO BAN RACING WHERE IT DOESN’T EXIST

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The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and Grey2K USA are now pushing for the adoption of legislation to ban greyhound racing in Oregon, where the sport hasn’t been active since the closure of Multnomah Greyhound Park in 2004.

House Bill 2765 was heard by the Business and Labor Committee on February 6. The testimony offered by Grey2K spokesman Stephen Kafoury and HSUS official Scott Beckstead was typically long on hyperbole and very short on substance. Kafoury made the astonishing claim that Grey2K is “involved in attempting to adopt greyhounds out to the public.”

That will be major news to the many authentic adoption groups that have made greyhound adoption a national success story. They are well aware that Grey2K does not operate a single adoption program, and in fact has exhorted the public not to adopt greyhounds from any organization that works constructively with the greyhound racing community (i.e., the majority of adoption groups nationwide).

As if that weren’t bizarre enough, HSUS spokesman Scott Beckstead introduced what appears to be a new line of attack for that radical group. Beckstead told legislators that greyhound racing shouldn’t be allowed in Oregon because it attracts a “rougher crowd” than horse racing. (He even mentioned the mafia.) Several legislators responded mockingly to this ridiculous claim. Video of the hearing is available online.

Beckstead also misled legislators when he claimed that very few greyhounds are “repurposed into second careers.” It’s not surprising that HSUS would refuse to acknowledge the success of greyhound adoption efforts, with more than 95 percent of all retired greyhounds either going into adoptive homes or returning to the farm as pets or breeders.

When skeptical legislators asked Kafoury why they should even consider this bill when there had been no greyhound racing in the state for over a decade, the Grey2K representative acknowledged that it was merely to “send a signal” that the sport wouldn’t return. “Since there’s no racing at present, there’s no problem with loss of revenue or jobs,” Kafoury said. That’s ironic, since the potential loss of jobs and revenue has never stopped Grey2K from campaigning to abolish greyhound racing.

At the end of the day, the two animal rights advocates may not have had much of an impact. So far no action has been taken on the bill. Perhaps Oregon legislators have more pressing matters before them than passing pointless animal rights bills whose only impact is symbolic.

 

 

HSUS WATCHDOG LAUNCHES DISCOVER CARD BOYCOTT

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HumaneWatch.org is calling for a national boycott of Discover, now that the credit card company has announced that it will donate funds to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) with every purchase made using Discover’s new Affinity card. The Discover deal could net HSUS as much as $1 million a year.

To mobilize consumers in opposition to the program, HumaneWatch.org has developed a new website, DiscoverTheScam.org, that includes background on HSUS and a web form allowing users to sign a petition and email Discover Vice President Kevin O’Donnell with their comments on Discover’s misguided support of HSUS.

The website also highlights HSUS’s scandal-scarred recent history, including the investigation of the group’s deceptive fundraising practices by Oklahoma’s Attorney General; the $15.75 million payment made to Feld Entertainment to settle federal racketeering charges against HSUS; donor advisories and low ratings from two leading charity watchdog groups; the radical HSUS anti-agriculture agenda, and the very small amount the organization donates to local pet shelters (less than 1 percent of the money it raises).

To call attention to the boycott campaign, HumaneWatch.org erected several billboards in the Times Square area of New York City.

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AGC ANNOUNCES 2014 GREYHOUND ADOPTION PROGRAM AWARDS

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Two greyhound adoption groups, one based in Canada and the other in North Carolina, have been named winners of the American Greyhound Council’s (AGC) Greyhound Adoption Program of the Year (GAPY) Award for 2014. They are S.O.S. Levriers de Quebec, Shirley Smith, Director; and Project Racing Home Greyhounds, Kimberly Jewell, Director. Each organization will receive a $1,000 donation from the AGC.

S.O.S. Levriers de Quebec is based in Montreal. The group was founded in 1999, and has placed over 800 greyhounds in adoptive homes since then. Director Shirley Smith devotes her full-time energy to greyhound adoption. She and her husband, Ernest Montreuil, along with about twenty volunteers, host weekly “Meet and Greets” to provide prospective owners an opportunity to get acquainted with the available greyhounds.

“I fell hook, line and sinker for greyhounds after I adopted my first one back in the 90s,” said Smith, “and I’ve been working in greyhound adoption ever since.” She keeps in touch with new pet owners long after the adoptions have been finalized to offer support and make sure that the greyhound’s transition into family life has been successful.

Project Racing Home (PRH) Greyhounds, based in Randleman, North Carolina, was founded in 2002. The group has placed more than 2,000 greyhounds in homes over the past twelve years. Although PRH has a capacity of 54 greyhounds, they have handled as many as 89 in emergency situations.

PRH Director Kimberly Jewell said one of the organization’s goals is to educate future greyhound owners about their greyhound’s previous life as a racer. “We have seen people go from not caring about their greyhound’s racing career to asking if they could watch replays of the dog’s races. That is what we want for the breed. It helps people understand, and opens their minds in the process,” she said.

In 2007, the AGC began recognizing outstanding individuals in the adoption field with a plaque and a $500 donation to their organization. In 2013, the program was changed to honor two outstanding organizations instead, and the award donation increased to $1,000 for each of the winning organizations.

Nominations for the 2015 Greyhound Adoption Program of the Year Award will open in early April.

ANTI-HSUS RADIO AD GIVES NEW JERSEY RESIDENTS FOOD FOR THOUGHT

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New Jersey residents had more than their Thanksgiving turkey to think about last week, when HumaneWatch.org aired a sixty-second radio ad attacking the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) for deceptive fundraising practices.

The ad accuses the HSUS of donating less than one percent of its vast revenues to animal shelters, “parking” millions of dollars of donated funds in off-shore accounts, funding million-dollar executive pension plans, attacking New Jersey farmers and “preying on good will.”

HumaneWatch.org ran the spot in response to an HSUS campaign urging New Jersey Governor Chris Christie not to veto an animal rights bill passed by the state legislature. The bill prohibited the use of individual maternity pens, sometimes called gestation crates, to house pregnant pigs. Some farmers use the narrow pens to prevent injury to gestating pigs, and to enable close monitoring of each animal’s health, food and water intake.

Defying the HSUS, Christie vetoed the bill on December 1. According to the Des Moines Register, the legislation would have had “little or no impact” on New Jersey, where the pens are seldom used by the roughly 300 pork producers operating there. However, gestation pens are still widely used in Iowa, the nation’s largest pork producing state and the first stop for aspiring candidates in the 2016 presidential campaign.

An online news outlet, NJ.com, is reporting that the bill’s sponsors will attempt to override the Governor’s veto in 2015. A similar effort failed in 2013.

AGC Executive Director Gary Guccione said the HSUS initiative in New Jersey was about politics, not animal welfare. “Why would HSUS target New Jersey–a state that has very few pork producers–instead of Iowa, where there are thousands of pig farmers? Because it’s not really about animal welfare at all. It’s about chalking up an easy win to make your political scorecard look better.”

Guccione said animal rights groups have used the same tactic on greyhound racing. “Most of the states that have ‘banned’ greyhound racing didn’t have active racing in the first place,” he said. “That made them ripe targets for activists looking for an easy victory.”

NGA EXPANDS HUMANE CARE MANDATE BEYOND GREYHOUNDS

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In an unprecedented policy change, the National Greyhound Association (NGA) has amended its bylaws to impose tough penalties, including lifetime expulsion, for members found guilty of neglecting or mistreating any animals–not just greyhounds–for which the member is responsible.

NGA Executive Director Gary Guccione said many members of the NGA keep other animals as well, including horses and dogs of other breeds. “Our board feels strongly that NGA members should maintain the highest standards of humane care across the board, whether the animals in question are greyhounds or any other species. Greyhound owners have an economic investment in their greyhounds, but we have an equal obligation to all animals in our care.”

For many years, NGA policies have called for lifetime expulsion of any member found guilty of violating the organization’s greyhound welfare standards. Now that policy also covers the care of any other animals in the member’s charge. Lifetime expulsion effectively means a permanent ban from greyhound racing anywhere in the nation, since all U.S. tracks require that the greyhounds competing at their tracks hold current valid NGA registrations.

Guccione said the impetus for tighter regulations came from within the ranks of the NGA. “Greyhound owners love animals, and they believe all animals deserve high-quality care. It’s really just that simple.”