Miami Herald - Wednesday, August 14, 2002

Death Of Race Dog Ruled Accidental

One greyhound died and two others were left near death when the air conditioning system malfunctioned in a truck transporting 38 of the racing dogs from Miami to Naples, a state probe concluded Tuesday.

The greyhound's death, which occured on July 27 as the dogs were hauled along Alligator Alley in a trailer truck, is being classified accidental, said David J. Roberts, director of the state's Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering.

''We didn't find that any impropriety took place,'' Roberts said Tuesday, a day after the state's Department of Business and Professional Regulation confirmed it was looking into the incident.

Activists were not allayed by Tuesday's announcement.

''We're taking the findings of the investigation with healthy skepticism,'' said Carey Theil, president of GREY2K U.S.A., the largest greyhound protection group in the United States.

In Florida, Janet Skinner, of the Greyhound Protection League, which works to ban greyhound racing in the state, questioned the speed and thoroughness of the probe.

''To have the parimutuel division take part in the investigation is like having the fox guarding the hen house,'' she said. ``The division gets the bulk of its money from dog racing so it doesn't behoove them to find something wrong.''

Roberts said they have no evidence to indicate that any more greyhounds died during the 100-mile crossing.

On Tuesday, the division identified the professional dog hauler responsible as Robert Holman, of Childress, Texas. Holman has a license to transport dogs in Florida, Roberts said. Holman could not be reached for comment.

It's unclear who owned the greyhounds. Racing greyhounds are valued at between $2,000 and $10,000 each.

Holman told investigators he was hauling the greyhounds from the Flagler Greyhound Track in Little Havana to the Naples Fort Myers track when he discovered that the generator powering the air conditioning system in the trailer had broken where the dog were kept in crates.

''He stopped and bought bags of ice to place inside the trailer,'' Roberts said, a practice used by other haulers to cool the dogs during transport.

But when the greyhounds arrived at the Naples track, three had been seriously overcome by heat. They were given intravenous injections by the track's veterinarian.

One greyhound was is such bad shape it had to be euthanized, Roberts said.

Source: Miami Herald, By Luisa Yanez, 8/14/02