Friday, July 31, 2015

Friday Hound Blogging

A couple of weeks ago we told you about Overlord Dale Popp who is the General Manager of Tucson Death Camp for Greyhounds. As you may recall they were having a bit of an inventory problem.
Dogs at Tucson Greyhound Park typically race on at three days’ rest. About three dozen greyhounds have not raced at TGP in at least six weeks, including three that haven’t raced since February.
It seems the disappearance of almost 40 dogs attracted the attention of several animal rights whackos who alerted the local media. Said media then proceeded to get all up in Dale's grill and were like Dude, where's the dogs? Can we see the dogs? Bring out the dogs.

Now, you probably think because of the long history and tradition of transparency at TGP that overlord Popp brought out the dogs, let the reporters check them over, gave a tour of the kennels and everyone went home with a smile on their faces--except of course for the animal rights whackos who were shown once again to be more concerned with casting aspersions on the character of the overlords by spreading lies about their commitment to the units than about the units themselves.

Well, that just shows how little you know about the wholesale commodification and meaningless death and injury helpless, innocent living creatures are subjected to in the pursuit of (no) profit because not only did overlord Popp refuse to produce the dogs, he wasn't about to let them crazy reporters with all that video equipment anywhere near the kennels. Although, in his defense, he did respond to their allegations.
Popp said at the time, “The dogs aren't unaccounted for. They are accounted for.”
Not only that, he enlisted the aid of overlord Alicia Heiserer for confirmation.
TGP controller Alicia Heiserer emailed us, saying, "...it seems as if you really think something is up with the dogs that you had listed to Mr. Popp. Fortunately, we know the whereabouts of each one of them and they are just fine."   
So, case closed, right? Umm...not quite. It seems the overlords'  definitions of "accounted for"  and "just fine" are a little different from everyone else's.
Turns out, not all the dogs are fine; one of them is dead. That would be "Last Two Stars." The Feb. 21 race was her last. She died the next day of a twisted gut, and was cremated. She was two and a half years old.
 OK, before you get all up on your high horse in the overlord's defense, they knew she was dead so technically she was accounted for and her crate has been filled by another greyhound so in that regard things are just fine.
During the July 11th interview, Popp replied to our list with what TGP said was the status of all the inactive dogs. It showed “Last Two Stars” was petted-out, meaning adopted.  But when we asked the Arizona Department of Gaming to confirm that, a spokesman said "Last Two Stars" was in fact dead.
Hey, no system is perfect, you know? Probably someone just checked the wrong box.
Popp said, “That piece of information wasn't obviously, wasn't accurate. “Last Two Stars”, and “Xtrem Stars” were inverted. “Xtrem Stars” is the one that was petted-out. “Last Two Stars”, um, had a twisted gut, and has, uh, been, was, has deceased.”
Well there you go then. Simple case of mistaken identity. Happens all the time, besides all greyhounds look alike to him, right overlord Popp?
We asked Popp, “Isn't that a huge mistake to make, though? That you as the general manager didn't know a dog was dead here?” He replied, “Any mistake is huge when it comes to the safety and well-being of the dog.  Am I surprised that I didn't know? Yeah.”
Popp also admitted that he was surprised when he found his way home after work without stopping to ask for directions, when he got his shoes tied in less than three tries and when he remembered which end of the toothbrush to stick in his mouth.
Randell Graham is a greyhound owner and trainer at TGP, the only one to come forward so far to respond to our first report. Graham had three dogs on the inactive list, and showed us their tattoo numbers, which matched those on the list. Graham said, “When we try to lay them up and give them a rest, we're accused of making them disappear, or they're missing, and it's, in my opinion it's become a double standard. And I wanted to clear my name.”
Good for you overlord Graham, but we're not quite sure what you mean by double standard. Lying about the welfare of the dogs, hiding their true condition and refusing to let independent observers verify what you are saying seems to be the only standard.
Regarding the fact that Popp told us two weeks ago that “Last Two Stars” was adopted, when she had been dead since February, we asked Popp, “Going forward, do you intend to get to the bottom of this?” He said, “Of course I do.” We asked, “How?” He replied, “By doing exactly what you're doing. Asking questions and investigating.”
Yeah. OK, but if your definitions of asking questions and investigating are like your definitions of accounted for and just fine, we've got a bad feeling about this. What about you Daisy? You going to sleep any better knowing Popp is on the case?


This sweet girl is with a rescue group called Alex’s House, who asked if we could please cross post her info. If you are interested in her, please contact them at: 316-321-1597.We don't know if Daisy can live with cats or small dogs, or if she can be an "only dog. For more information about this dog, and other rescued racing greyhounds looking for homes, go here. If you don't know about the plight of racing greyhounds go here and here.

7 comments:

Jeff said...

The icing on the cake was that even the state Department of Gaming gave false information about the deceased dog. At first they said Last Two Stars had been euthanized in June. Only later did they say the dog had died February 22 of "bloat".

Ironicus Maximus said...

Dude, this is the Department that has Rory Goree in it. Why are you surprised they are clueless?

Nancy said...

Utter incompetent fools at that death trap. Why does nothing ever change?

Oh, never mind, IM you already answered that.

Unknown said...

It is a double standard, I lay my greyhounds up for a rest and im accused of making them vanish, when they run every 3-5 days its to much its too often.
Thats the definition of a double standard. And if you're so interested in my dogs check out Graham Racing Kennel on FB. Plenty of videos, pictures and many independent outside sources paying us visits.

Unknown said...

Missing greyhounds, Freddie? Let me know when you manage to pull your head out of your ass.

Ironicus Maximus said...

Come on Bobbie. You can do better than that.

greygarious said...

The disposition record for a GH I adopted in Massachusetts 10 yrs ago showed her as being turned over to the rescue group MANY months after they actually got her, and a month after she came to me. Another one, who blew out his right hock in his last rate, appeared in the racing program as "did not finish", with no mention of injury. This tells you how assiduously the racing kennels write up/file their paperwork!