Orca was a female greyhound. Her father was one of the top winning greys of all time in Arizona. She was purchased by a racing family because of her heritage. But her life was one of tragedy and mistreatment.
Orca was two miles an hour faster than the other greys on the Arizona track when she was racing. She was the first out of the gate and would reach the half way mark well ahead of the other dogs. Then she would stop and wait for her companions to catch up with her. She wanted to play.
This caused her trainer to beat her and eventually to throw her off of a moving train onto the Arizona desert, where she was expected to die.
She didn't die and eventually made her way to our home, where she bonded strongly with our Whippet, Cocco. She had five good years with us, running on our small pasture with her friend and mate, who could nearly keep up with her.
Sadly, she developed Lupas, a disease that caused her great pain and misery. At the young age of seven, she had to be euthanized because of the misery she was experiencing.
Whenever I left our home, she would follow my car to the farthest reaches of the fence. That evening, when the doctor was coming to do the deed, she merely looked around the corner of the house. It was as if she knew what was coming. My husband, who stayed with her to the end, said she didn't fight the injections at all. He said it seemed that she welcomed the relief.
Cocco couldn't live without her. He quit running, playing and eating. He followed her into death two months later, dying of a broken heart and lonliness at the young age of ten. We were left with our terrier mix, Skipper, and our border collie, Maggie. They both went through a long period of grieving but grew closer together as time went by.
Two months after Cocco left us, our 34 year old son followed them. He passed over the bridge and now runs through the green grass not only with Cocco and Orca, but also with his own dogs, Brandy, Hymie, and especially Brooke. They are joined by our beloved cats, Frik and Frak and our son's grandmother's dog, BB.
We miss them all; our son most of all, of course, but our animals are not far behind in our hearts.
We must stop the mistreatment of racing greyhounds and racing whippets so no other dogs suffer the treatment of these dogs that we rescued and who graced our home with love and tremendous pleasure. I ask each of you to join with us in protesting the mistreatment and killing of racing dogs everywhere.
Thank you,
Virginia Harrington