last November Florida passed an
amendment to ban greyhound racing in the
state the industry had warned that
should voters approve this there would
be thousands of retired greyhounds
suddenly left in need of homes and
Laurie we've learned that number is far
less than predicted but now the industry
is playing politics over who gets to
adopt out these dogs and unfortunately
it's the greyhounds that may bear the
brunt of this battle this is Bart he
broke his leg at Palm Beach racing this
is sage she came to us with this big
scar and just petrified of people
Sonia's Strada Minh has dedicated her
life to rescuing retired greyhounds from
Florida's racetracks taking the men when
they've grown too old to compete or
after they've suffered a terrible injury
rehabbing them until she's able to place
them in a loving home every single one
of them has a story for 16 years she's
worked with the racing industry adopting
out over 2,300 greyhounds through her
rescue Elite Greyhound adoptions but now
all that's changed when did that stop as
soon as I started speaking out about the
injuries and and what was going on and
when was that about a year ago they're
open racing in the pool in the world of
greyhound racing Strada Minh had
committed a cardinal sin joining forces
with animal rights groups outing the
industry for its cruel treatment of the
dogs and advocating for Florida's
amendment 13 its crawl effectively
banning greyhound racing in the state by
December of 2020 which Florida voters
overwhelmingly approved last November by
a margin of two to one everything my
family and I have been through with
these dogs for so long just to see that
if you fight hard you can actually make
a difference when amendment 13 passed in
November of last year there were about
4,000 greyhounds still racing in the
state of Florida the good news is
several tracks have voluntarily closed
before the deadline and many of those
greyhounds have already been retired
still by the time December 2020 rolls
around there could potentially be
fifteen hundred greyhounds you need of
homes and if the industry has its way
Strada men will not be getting any of
them have you been blackballed
yeah the industry is very very upset and
they've said that they'll never give me
another dog again it stopped
Jim Gartland is the executive director
of the national greyhound Association
based in Kansas he confirms the industry
is bitter about the Florida vote and
through Greyhound pets of America will
only work with the 105 rescue groups
that supported the industry and says all
probe an activist have no business
trying to help all the dogs that will
eventually need new homes you know cut
off your nose but has the industry
always done right by these dogs they
were used and abused for profit
Christine Dortch AK president and
general counsel for grey2k USA worldwide
has been at the forefront to end
greyhound racing in the US and now
around the world since 2001 up until 20
years ago before they were adopted out
retired greyhounds were routinely
euthanized door check says the industry
caused its own demise because it refused
and obstructed before in Florida the dog
dies every three days dogs are kept
confined for an average of 20 to 23
hours a day but a new day is dawning for
the remaining greyhounds still racing in
Florida Michele Weaver who since 2001
has adopted out over 2400 dogs
is praying the industry can just leave
the politics out of it once that dogs
not racing why do you care give it to
somebody who's gonna find it a good home
doesn't have to be a pro racing home
it's a home are you concerned about
what's gonna happen to these dogs if all
five of those tracks close at the end
that could be that will be will be
scrambling they're not just gonna be
able to use their 102 groups that they
say they're gonna need help from
everybody everyone should work together
door check isn't worried she's faced as
pushback from the industry before and
says the dogs always win historically
speaking when dog tracks have closed
over these last 20 years there has been
a wonderful exodus of greyhounds into
adoption Strada men also remains
optimistic the day after amendment 13
passed we started getting applications
in and we've probably had around 400
since then was it worth it yeah
definitely
why how the dogs like a duck no one else
was doing it they needed us so right now
many of these rescue groups don't have
many dogs available for adoption yet the
tracks are not getting any new dogs so
they're holding on to the greyhounds
they have now longer than usual so they
can have draw dogs to race of course all
that will change in 2020 when that
deadline goes into effect so why aren't
there any new dogs going into the tracks
well the breeders have seen the writing
on the wall they knew it was gonna
happen so they've stopped the breeding
or they've scaled back the breeding of
greyhound puppies for racing but again
that's gonna change in 2020 you know all
these greyhounds are gonna be up for
adoption so the industry is going to
need these rescue groups that is the
hope that everybody's gonna work
together to adopt out these dogs you
know and of course they make wonderful
pets if you're so moved to adopt a
greyhound we had that information
available on our website beautiful