Greyhound Adoptions Going Well, Panel Told More Than 100 Adopted, With 120 More On Way Out, Racing Commission Hears

Three weeks after Coeur d’Alene Greyhound Park officials said they’ll halt dog races, track officials say they’ve adopted out more than 100 greyhounds.

Track operations manager Al May said he has commitments from people to adopt 120 more.

All told, he reported to the Idaho Racing Commission Monday, about 350 ex-racing greyhounds will be adopted as pets. The remaining dogs, which May estimates at about 300, will keep on racing elsewhere.

“We’re heartened by the response,” May said, which has come from as far away as Huntington Beach, Calif.

Live dog racing at the track will end Dec. 17, May said. “That gives us two good weeks to focus on adoptions before the end of the year.” The track’s kennels will stay open until all the dogs fit for adoption are placed, he said.

“If they (kennel operators) did not have the means to take care of them, the track will,” May said.

Track officials announced in late October that they were ending dog racing after losing more than $21 million in seven years.

Three quarters of the track’s 200 workers will lose their jobs. Of those, May said, the 105 full-time workers were offered jobs at the parent company’s other tracks in Iowa or Texas. Only a handful of workers have decided to move.

The track plans to stay open for so-called “simulcast” betting on televised races, May said. To continue simulcasts in 1997, Idaho law says the track must hold at least two live greyhound races next year.

A half dozen track foes attended Monday’s meeting. Some said they feel the commission is ignoring alleged animal abuse because the track’s closing.

Racing Commissioner Michael Lineberry said their concerns won’t be forgotten. “I think we commissioners probably learned our lesson on this issue,” he said. “We would pay attention if there was some operation proposed for dog racing there, or somewhere else.”

The commission meeting had been scheduled for Post Falls. The change to Meridian angered North Idaho members of the Greyhound Action Committee of Idaho, who held a meeting in Post Falls anyway. The group wants the racing banned.

“Greyhound racing is a blood sport,” said group member Lloyd Moser, a retired Post Falls pipefitter.

Johnathan Gore of Spokane described visiting the track’s kennels three days ago to adopt a dog. He described dogs stacked on top of each other in wooden crates, syringes, pills, food with salt poured on it. His dog had a scar on its flank that Gore attributed to an organized dogfight.

“I could almost vomit,” he said of the kennel conditions. “It was disgusting.”

May flatly denied that Gore’s description was accurate. None of those things is going on, he said, although the individual dog houses are stacked atop each other in some kennels.

Dog advocates want access to the track to check kennel conditions and record the ear tattoo numbers on every dog. Moser said advocates have feared for their safety if they go to the track. He and several others tried to visit the track Monday, but a security guard turned them away, saying they needed an appointment.

Track maintenance director David Wilde went to the group’s meeting, but he wasn’t allowed to speak.

“It’s our meeting,” said Moser.

“I just thought I’d see what these people had to say,” Wilde said afterward. “I found it fascinating. It was totally slanted.”

May said the advocates have nothing to fear at the track.

“All of them are welcome,” he said.

May said the park already tracks all the dogs, including the driver and license of every vehicle that takes a dog away.

The state racing commission, Post Falls police department, National Greyhound Association and Kootenai County Humane Society all have access to the records, May said.

“As can Mr. Moser. He can come in my office and we’ll go through my notebook,” May said.

, DataTimes