We got their emails back... it's pretty long.

Thank you for inquiring about helping the greyhounds affected by the Plainfield, CT track closing! Most likely you wrote in response to an email that you received.



There is some very good news – the kennel folks at the track were able to get the May 14 deadline removed, so the dogs are no longer under a May 14 deadline to get off the track. Greyhound rescues and animal shelters across our region are working hard to ensure no dogs will be put down. With all the publicity that’s resulted from the emails flying across the country, it is likely that these dogs are no longer at risk of being put down. The public’s eye is now focused on the Plainfield track, and that will ensure the safety of the dogs there.



This track is closing – it’s not a hoax. There are currently 800-1,000 dogs at the track; it’s unknown exactly how many will be going on to continue racing at other tracks, and how many will need to be placed in homes. There will be many, many, many hundreds who need adoptive homes. It will only be through the efforts of all those who love greys that this will happen.



The other good news is that we’ve gotten to talk with hundreds of animal lovers across the country who are concerned about the fate of the Plainfield greyhounds! We have been amazed by the outpouring of caring!



The bad news is that we did not send out an email listing us as a national contact to help the Plainfield greys or asking folks across the country to call or email us to figure out how to help these lovely dogs. We sent an email to a Massachusetts shelter, asking if they could take a few dogs; without our knowledge they edited it and sent it on to other folks, who without our knowledge edited it and sent it on to other folks, who………well, it’s just plain gone all across the country. This has been a good thing because it’s raising awareness about the track closing, and greyhounds in need. But, it’s also been a bad thing, because the email changes every time it’s sent, and usually lists us as the people to contact if you want to help, and contains information that is not accurate (either plain wrong or badly out of date).



We’re just a tiny little shelter doing what we can (we’re so small that we only have 8 dog kennels!), not a group that’s coordinating rescue of all the Plainfield greyhounds. Unfortunately, the deluge of calls and emails from places like Nevada, California, and Saskatchewan is keeping our small staff from having enough time to care for the animals here in our shelter. Again, we did not send out this email, but we’ve been amazed by the support that has been coming in from across the country. We do need, though, to be able to provide care for the animals in our little place!



If you are interested in fostering or adopting one of these wonderful dogs, and you do not live within an hour or so of our shelter in Western Massachusetts (we’re near Umass/Amherst and Northampton), please contact a greyhound rescue in your area.

Remember, any greyhound available for adoption through a rescue group is one whose racing days are over and who is not wanted on the greyhound breeding farms; so even if it’s not a Plainfield, CT greyhound, they are all greyhounds in need of loving homes because their racing careers are over.

To find out more about what bringing an ex-racer home is like, and to learn more about these wonderful dogs, visit the excellent site www.greyhoundgang.com.



In most of the country, there are also hundreds of other dogs of all breeds, who are in dire need, so check shelters near you – they may be desperate for any kind of help to stem the tide of homeless dogs.



If you aren’t able to adopt right now, the best way to help is to send a financial donation, large or small, to your local greyhound rescue group or a national greyhound rescue group. You can find them via the website www.adopt-a-greyhound.org.



If you are interested in adopting a wonderful greyhound and you’re within an hour of our shelter, please come visit! We’d love to show you all our wonderful dogs and cats available for adoption. We cannot ship dogs to meet adopters, so you need to be able to come visit our dogs. If you’re coming from a distance, you may want to call us first to see who is available for adoption before you come for your visit! Our dogs need to be spayed/neutered before leaving for adoptive homes, and this may prevent long distance adoptions; we aren’t able to get enough appointments with local vets right now.



If you’re interested in fostering for us, we need you to be:

- living within an hour of our shelter,

-available to bring your foster greyhound to the Shelter or our local vet to meet potential adopters or attend to any medical needs, and

-available to foster for a minimum of two months; shorter foster periods will not allow us to pull more dogs from the track.



If you aren’t located within an hour of our shelter, we encourage you to help local animals! There are animal shelters and greyhound rescues all across the country helping animals that need you!



We would like to thank the wonderful people who have begun adopting and fostering greyhounds from our shelter, and all those helping other Plainfield greys with other rescue and adoption groups.



Thank you for caring about these wonderful dogs. Please support animal rescue near you! It’s only through the combined efforts of all of us that we can make a difference to all the pets who need our help.



Please, forward this information to whomever you received the other email from; we’re trying to get the word out to folks who want to help that there are lots of ways to help – mostly involving your local rescues! Please do not edit this email but rather send or post the whole thing (we’ve had too much trouble with edited emails already this week!).



Thank you for caring about these wonderful dogs.

Karina King
Dakin Animal Shelter
www.dakinshelter.org
May 5, 2005