BY LAURIN SELLERS
The Orlando Sentinel

MELBOURNE, Fla. — Buddy ran his last race in September.

Seconds after he bolted from the gate at Melbourne Greyhound Park, his right rear leg snapped and later had to be amputated at the hip.

Still, Dennis Tyler considers the greyhound a lucky dog.

Buddy is among the 75,000 retired racers adopted through Greyhound Pets of America in the past two decades, according to Tyler, president of the Central Florida chapter. A Pennsylvania woman who works in a nursing home thought the three-legged dog would inspire the patients, so she adopted him.

Unlike other animal-rescue groups, the nation's largest greyhound-adoption organization works within the racing industry to find homes for dogs too old or too injured to compete. Its members don't picket kennels or lobby legislators. They neither condone nor condemn the sport.

And though they have a good idea of how many dogs are injured and killed each year, they won't disclose the number.

"We just care about finding good homes for these dogs," said Rory Goree, GPA's national president. "Building friendships and bridges in the industry has gone a whole lot further than standing across the street and yelling."

But to animal-protection activists fighting to shut down dog tracks across the country, GPA is part of the problem instead of the solution.

"GPA is the public-relations machine of the greyhound-racing industry," said Christine Dorchak, president and general counsel of Grey2K USA, a nonprofit advocacy group targeting the 41 remaining dog tracks in 13 states.

"We support any effort to adopt out greyhounds, but we don't think anyone should hesitate to speak out about the cruelty," Dorchak said. "Those who don't are allowing this cruelty to continue."

But Goree said Grey2K USA is more concerned with its cause than the welfare of the animals.

"They have no plan to take care of the dogs if they are successful in shutting down the tracks," he said. "I truly don't believe they care about them."

For years, Grey2K USA, the Humane Society of the United States, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and other national groups have blasted racing as animal abuse.

The docile dogs, they say, spend most of their lives in cramped 3-foot-by-3-foot crates with little human contact. Thousands suffer broken legs and necks each year as they dash around the track at speeds nearing 45 mph. And, scores are killed because more dogs are bred than the declining sport needs, PETA spokeswoman Jackie Vergerio said.

Greyhound puppies that don't take to the sport are destroyed before they ever reach the tracks, Vergerio added.

Industry officials dispute the claims and insist the lifestyle of a racing greyhound is "a happy scenario."

"These are valuable animals that take thousands of dollars to raise and train," said Gary Guccione, executive director of the National Greyhound Association. "They need the best of care and need to be happy and healthy to perform their best.

"It would make no sense to abuse or mistreat them," he said.

According to Guccione, only a small percentage of dogs are hurt while racing, and the injuries are usually minor.

But actual numbers are hard to come by because most states, including Florida, don't inspect the farms or training facilities, or require tracks to report injuries and deaths.

The industry won't voluntarily release those statistics.

"Critics would use them to try to close tracks," Guccione said.

In 2004, Massachusetts and New Hampshire passed laws requiring tracks to compile and disclose their numbers. In New Hampshire alone, 700 dogs were injured while racing in 2005 and 2006, and more than a dozen died or had to be killed because of their injuries, according to the statistics.

This year, the New Hampshire Legislature will consider a bill that would end greyhound racing at the state's three tracks by mid-2009.

If it passes, New Hampshire would be the 35th state to ban racing, but the first to do so by closing active tracks. The other states either never had tracks or shut them down before outlawing the sport. A similar bill is being proposed this year in Massachusetts.

In 2002, the remains of 3,000 greyhounds from Florida racetracks were discovered on the Alabama property of a former track-security guard who told authorities he had been killing unwanted race dogs with a .22 rifle for more than 40 years.

Other dogs have died in poorly ventilated transport vehicles and from diseases and injuries.

At the Melbourne park, injured dogs are taken to one of two kennels operated by Tyler, head of the local Greyhound Pets of America chapter. For the past 10 years, he has tended to the dogs, sometimes taking them home to speed their recovery.

"We would rather be a hospice for the industry," he said. "That's one of the reasons we work within it."

On a recent afternoon before Buddy headed north to his new home in Pennsylvania, the 4-year-old brindle was released from his crate into a pen where he pawed the sand and then plopped down in a cool spot.

"Nothing slows him down," Tyler said, stroking the dog's head. "He doesn't even know he's missing that leg."

GPA part of the problem. Don't understand that. They do so much good.

Groups like the ones mentioned (grey2k, gpl, hsus, peta) have a single goal, to end racing. Care and concern for the greyhound as a pet or as a breed is pretty far down the official agendas. Granted, there are members of each organization who do feel passionately about the welfare of the hounds, but they're fooling themselves if they think the leadership of these groups feel the same.

I'm just too tired to get into the middle of this one. I don't however think that if you are going to complain about the adoption groups you better be able to at least suggest a solution. On that note.. Bye Bye See ya tomorrow cause I gotta study for an exam..

I actually don't have a lot to say here. I know, hard to believe!

BUT...if Gpa is part of the problem, then what is Grey2K?? Oh, so you say they are a lobbyist group, with nothing to do with adoption, that is trying to get at the root of the problem? Well let's look at their track record. They have submitted THREE bills to different state legislatures in the past 6 years. How many have passed, you ask?? ZERO. They have accomplished absolutely nothing, and in addition, have actually distanced them further from their goal. In the '02 election in MA, they actually got pretty close to a win, with only a 2% margin. So they thought that for the '06 election, it would be a sure thing in the legislature. Well, when they were COMPLETELY SHUT OUT by the court, they were left empty handed. Then this past spring, they tried AGAIN, but this time in NH. ONCE AGAIN, a no-go, with about a 35% margin. I wonder how much fruitless effort it takes before someone starts questioning that non-profit status?? I mean, c'mon, the way they operate we should all be elible for tax exemption. Nothing to show for 10 years of work? Only Grey2K and meteorologists can have that kind of track record and still put money in their pockets.

I don't think either of them should be fighting with each other.

Dennis is one of the greatest things that have ever happened to adoption in Florida. Adoption could use more people like him.