DORCHAK E-MAIL REVEALS GREY2K’S ANTI-WELFARE STANCE

Opponents of New Hampshire House Bill 630, which would ban live greyhound racing in the state, may have been the only people who weren’t surprised recently when Grey2K President Christine Dorchak circulated an e-mail to New Hampshire "animal advocates" urging them to "refrain from interacting" with Greyhound Pets of America (GPA), the nation’s largest independent greyhound adoption organization.

Dorchak attacked GPA for testifying against Grey2K bills in other states, describing the adoption organization as "an arm of the racing industry."  Her e-mail underscored what adoption advocates inside and outside greyhound racing have been saying for years–that Grey2K isn’t really about animal welfare at all.

Until Dorchak’s e-mail surfaced, some legislators might have been persuaded that Grey2K’s focus was the welfare of greyhounds.  However, the hostile e-mail, actively discouraging cooperation and communication with a leading adoption organization, revealed Grey2K’s extreme preference for political warfare over greyhound welfare.

GPA members responded quickly.  Appearing before the New Hampshire House Local and Regulated Revenues Committee, Reverend Jeffrey Betterini, director of the central New Hampshire chapter of GPA, said, "We at GPA are completely neutral on the issue of racing.  What we do is receive retired greyhound racers, foster them in volunteer homes, make them ready for adoption, and find them forever families."

Betterini also told legislators that New Hampshire’s laws are well defined when it comes to animal care, so the action to ban live racing on animal welfare grounds is "unnecessary and unwarranted."

If legislators decide to pass the bill, Betterini concluded, they should amend it to include funding for the adoption of the greyhounds to be displaced.

"When a track closes, the suddenly increased demand for adoptive homes for the greyhounds is not contained to the local area or even the state," he said.  "It is felt across the nation."