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Cover Stories Winter 2003-04 Accidents and Heatstroke Kill Six Racing Greyhounds Mobile, Alabama: The electrocution and maiming of Gallant Dixie at Mobile Greyhound Park was made public by the California-based Greyhound Protection League (GPL) Oct. 24. Based on an eyewitness account by Mobile resident Rachel Logan described in a letter Logan wrote to the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the 3-year-old greyhound fell after being bumped during an evening race Sept. 26. Dazed by the collision, the dog staggered backward into the electrically charged rail that powers the motorized lure. Track workers shut off the electricity to the rail, but the motor and attached lure continued around the rail, striking the dog and severing her leg. According to Logan's letter, the badly injured dog "cried for a few seconds" after suffering the electric shock. "The lure came back around the track and ripped her back right leg off. Gallant Dixie died from blood loss and electrocution." Logan told the Mobile Register that she wrote the letter because she "couldn't rest until something was done because it was so horrible." In a letter to Eddie Mention, chairman of the Mobile County Racing Commission, GPL representative Lenka Perron called for a thorough investigation into the fatal accident and asked that the Mobile track upgrade its equipment to prevent similar accidents in the future. Perron said newer versions of the lure mechanism have a retractable arm that flies up when the power is cut. Menton said he did not believe the track was at fault. "Our procedures are fine, the equipment is fine. It was an unfortunate accident." Bonita Springs, Florida: State officials are investigating the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track for holding races without a veterinarian on the premises after two greyhounds were severely injured in successive races on Saturday, Nov. 1. The dogs suffered for more than an hour before being euthanized. State regulations require a veterinarian to be on duty before, during and after the races. If the allegations are proven true, the track could be fined $5,000 for each incident and could also lose its license. Plinko Drive, a 3-year-old red brindle female, had her leg torn off after hitting the rail following a collision with another dog in the sixth race at about 1:45 p.m. "It just ran into the rail and just tore the leg off at the elbow," said James Blanchard, a kennel operator who saw both accidents. Plinko Drive, bleeding but still alive, was removed to a shed. "It stayed alive until the vet came," Blanchard said. GPL lodged a formal complaint with the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The complaint alleges both Plinko Drive and Solitary Hattie, a 3-year-old dark brindle female who sustained a compound leg fracture in the seventh race, suffered for more than an hour before the track veterinarian arrived. "One of our major concerns is the terrible suffering these dogs have endured," said GPL president Susan Netboy. State officials said the investigation would take several weeks. "We're looking into it," said Meg Shannon, communications director for the regulatory agency. Shannon said an investigator has been assigned to the case. In a Nov. 5 editorial, the Naples Daily News stated: "State regulatory rules say a veterinarian has to be on site to ensure dogs enduring injuries do not have to suffer further and needlessly. That is something on which dog owners, animal rights advocates, fans, and the racetrack ought to readily agree. It is the least that people who say they really care about greyhounds as more than objects of wagering can do." Daytona Beach, Florida: The Daytona Beach News-Journal, citing the results of an investigation recently released by the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, reported Nov. 22 that three greyhounds died from heatstroke at the Daytona Beach Kennel Club in early May. GPL filed a formal complaint with the division June 18 after receiving a tip about the dogs' deaths from an industry insider. State investigator Stephen Toner looked into the deaths but issued no official findings because "no one will stand up and be counted," he wrote in a memo to his supervisor. "I interviewed several people on tape who were alleged to have been present and witnessed the events of the day. Not one of them was willing or 'able' to give an eyewitness account of anything at all." On Tuesday. May 6, Lynn Wolters, a trainer at Melbourne Greyhound Park, and her assistant drove 20 dogs to the Daytona Beach track for the afternoon schooling races. Toner's memo, dated Oct. 20, states Wolters expected her assistant to cool off the dogs before placing them in the truck for transport back to the track's kennel compound about a half mile away. The assistant drove the first ten dogs to the compound after the first four schooling races. Wolters told Toner that when she returned to the compound about 15 minutes later with the remaining ten dogs, she saw two of her greyhounds -Hocus Pocus, a 3-year-old male and Autumn Maze, a 3-year-old female - in obvious heat distress. Several trainers in the compound were trying to cool down the dogs with ice and water, but her assistant just stood by and appeared unconcerned. Wolters tried to find a veterinarian to help the dogs, but none was on duty at the track. Wolters drove Autumn Maze to the nearest animal clinic for emergency treatment where she remained overnight. On Wednesday morning Wolters picked up the gravely ill dog from the clinic and drove her to her veterinarian in Melbourne, where she died. Hocus Pocus, who appeared to be recovering Tuesday afternoon, was found dead in his crate Wednesday morning. The assistant, alone at the kennel compound after Wolters left for Melbourne, sprinted several dogs. One of them, Devie's Warlock, a 3-year-old male, ran down the sprint path, turned around, started back and dropped dead. On her return, Wolters fired the assistant, who filed a complaint with the division claiming he was unjustly fired. It was his complaint that brought the dogs' deaths to the division's attention and led to the investigation.
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