I think Twiggy is feeling a little left out lately. I've been so focused on Dre and the Anti-BSL campaign that Twiggy hasn't received much focus. Today I would like to focus on Greyhounds.
Greyhounds are counting on us to fight the battle to put an end to the racing life that the majority of them are raised in. I can't say that I've ever met a person who races a Greyhound, but I can say I've never heard stories about how well Greyhounds who endure a track life are treated. Nope. I hear about the stats of Greyhounds that get injured and are discarded, about Greyhounds literally disappearing with no trace, about being made to live in a kennel without much human interaction (meaning love and comfort) and other horrific stories about Greyhounds and their plight to exit the racing world.
Organizations like Grey2K USA have succeeded in bringing much light to Greyhounds and the conditions they are forced to endure at tracks. They have led the march to shut down dog racing in several states and they are still fighting to get it shut down everywhere. Colorado shut down its racing back in 2008 and an interesting thing happened. We ran out of Greyhounds to adopt out. Don't get me wrong, this a good problem to have. It allowed Non-profits like Colorado Greyhound Adoption to bring in Greyhounds from other states and get them adopted here.
States that still have Greyhound racing:
Arizona
Texas
Iowa
Arkansas
Alabama
Florida
West Virginia
If you are not familiar with Greyhound racing and the perils it brings to the beautiful breed, please educate yourself here and here.
Twiggy never raced. You can read her story starting here. She's lucky. I like to say I rescued her from the track life. Not too many Greyhounds are as lucky as she is though. Twiggy broke her leg in August of 2009. She displaced the bone right by her knee joint on her back, right leg. This would have been a death sentence for a racing Greyhound. For Twiggy it was a very expensive surgery followed by nearly 12 weeks of casts, bandaging and drugs. I got very good at bandaging! She runs just as good as she used to now, although when she lays down her knee joint does not quite bend as much as her other one. And, interestingly, the hair on the incision grew back white. We will never be able to forget where she injured herself because of that. And I will always think about how if Twiggy did that as a racing Greyhound she probably would not be here right now. For all the racers who have had that end, R.I.P and we will keep fighting for you.
