Freeway Petey Greyhound post surgeries

On May 14 and subsequent updates, Tucson Tails reported the sad story about Freeway Petey (racing name Petey D), a racing greyhound that fell out of a transport vehicle on his way from Sarasota dog track to Ebro dog track. The photos of his injuries and post surgery were heartbreaking.

Today I am happy to report that 2-year-old Freeway Petey is on his road to wellness, is almost ready to be adopted, and has made a miraculous recovery. There are so many to thank — the Good Samaritan who saved his life on Interstate 75; the talented medical staff at University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine; the amazing dedication of Gold Coast Greyhound Adoption (GCGA); and hundreds of people who reached into their pockets to help pay vet bills, send healing thoughts, and move the story from point A to point B and beyond via social media.

 To help pay the vet bills, the Freeway Fund Auction has now started (a/o June 1) and continues until June 24 at 8 p.m. Consider bidding and cross posting the auction far and wide.

Freeway Petey’s story exemplifies everything that is good with greyhound adoption and questionable about greyhound racing.

According to previous accounts, the person who was doing the hauling failed to notify either Sarasota Kennel Club or Ebro Greyhound Park about the missing dog. Is there no procedure to follow?

If Petey plus another dog were fighting, does that mean they were both muzzled inside one cage?  How big are those cages and why put two dogs in one cage?

What are the standards for people hauling dogs from one Florida race track to another?

For people reading this who are not familiar with greyhound racing, dogs not only travel in hauling vehicles from track to track within states but they travel from track to track and breeding/training farms to tracks all over the country.

To bring the hauling problem closer to home, here in Tucson in 2010, eight dogs died on their way from Oklahoma City to Arizona.

According to the Arizona Daily Star article (see link below), the husband and wife haulers were only suspended for 30 days and fined $500 each for failing to properly care for 27 greyhounds. In my opinion they should’ve been fined $500 for each dead dog and their licenses should’ve been revoked permanently. I believe the Arizona Department of Racing was far too lenient.