http://www.ohmidog.com/2017/10/11/getting-every-last-drop-greyhounds/

As if racing their hearts out weren’t enough, some greyhounds are retired to dog blood banks where they lived caged all day long, except for outings to get their blood drawn.

PETA last month exposed one such kennel, The Pet Blood Bank, Inc., in Cherokee, Texas, which houses about 150 retired greyhounds — solely for the purpose of extracting and selling their blood and blood products.

The products, PETA reported, are distributed by Patterson Veterinary Supply, Inc., which did about $3 billion worth of business in 2016.

After the the PETA expose and a story in The Washington Post, Patterson Veterinary Supply announced it would take steps to correct the horrible conditions they described.

But PETA says no steps have been taken, even after they had Paul McCartney send a pleato the company.

Patterson Veterinary Supply initially announced it would terminate business with the The Pet Blood Bank, Inc.

It also promised to support “efforts to ensure that the animals receive appropriate care.” Bu PETA says it has seen no evidence of any such efforts.

The whistle-blower was Bill Larsen, 60, a former employee of the blood bank who went back to work there and was horrified by how conditions had deteriorated.

Larsen, who took the incriminating photos, said he unsuccessfully sought help from local animal shelters and a state agency before contacting PETA. “I just like dogs,” he said, and “hate for any animal to get treated like that.”

The photos show kenneled dogs with open wounds, rotting teeth and toenails curling into their paw pads.

The blood bank was founded in 2004 by Austin entrepreneur Mark Ziller, who said he initially sought volunteers and used a bloodmobile. When that did not turn up enough dogs, the company began using retired greyhounds housed in a kennel on a private farm northwest of Austin, the Post reported.

Ziller said he sold the company in November 2015 to Shane Altizer, whose family owns the farm in Cherokee.

“The Pet Blood Bank had a noble mission: It provided blood for veterinarians to use in lifesaving transfusions,” Ziller tod the Post. After viewing the photos PETA obtained, he added, “To see the animals in that state is beyond depressing.”

Altizer did not deny that the images were taken there, but said they predated his 2015 purchase of the company or were “moment snapshots” unrepresentative of overall conditions now.

Blood banks help save thousands of animals a year, but they are also profit-driven and unregulated.

With more medical procedures being used by vets, transfusions are more often required, and animal blood banks struggle to meet the demand. Only one state, California, regulates such operations and requires annual inspections.

Greyhounds are considered especially desirable as donors because they typically have a universal blood type and have big neck veins that make drawing blood easy.

Veterinarian Anne Hale, former CEO of the nation’s first and largest commercial animal blood bank, said she visited the Pet Blood Bank this summer and was “pleasantly surprised” with conditions there. After viewing the PETA photos and video though, she said, “It appears that the facility was ‘cleaned up’ before our touring … I agree that this facility should be addressed. This certainly suggests that regional, state and/or federal regulation is warranted.”

Former Beatle McCartney, who wrote a letter on PETA’s behalf, wants to see all the dogs removed from the facility.

“I have had dogs since I was a boy and loved them all dearly, including Martha who was my companion for about 15 years and about whom I wrote the song ‘Martha, My Dear,’” McCartney wrote. “I join my friends at PETA in asking you to pay these greyhounds back, and to let them retire from the dirt-floored, barren conditions in which they are kept isolated and alone.”

(Photos and video from PETA)

Also see:  https://investigations.peta.org/greyhounds-farmed-for-blood/

They are deprived of everything that is natural and meaningful to them, including exercise, companionship, and the opportunity to bond with a human family. Out of boredom and despair, they just dig and chew on the old filthy chemical tanks that serve as their shelter, leaving sharp and jagged edges that sometimes injure them. Some dogs pace, spin endlessly in circles, jump up and down, and cry out when approached. Others are so terrified that they cower and lose control of their bladder or bowels.

 

Around 150 greyhounds are kept in barren, dilapidated pens inside a former turkey factory farm.

Leaks from the dogs’ water sources—when they worked—combined with their feces and urine to form a frothy sludge that ran between kennels. Standing water is a breeding ground for mosquitoes, who can spread heartworm.

The dogs have nothing to do all day long but dig holes and lie in the dirt or in the filthy, jagged-edged old chemical tanks that they have as shelter.

The potholes in the dirt-floored kennels put the dogs at risk of injury. Torn tendons and ligaments and even fractures often occur when their legs get caught and twisted in the holes.

The dogs have no opportunity to run. The only time they are let out is during bleeding, when up to 20 percent of their blood volume is extracted from their jugular vein.

The dogs have nothing to do all day long but dig holes and lie in the dirt.

The dogs are constantly exposed to snakes, mice, fleas, and ticks in the open-air shed, putting them at risk of blood-borne and other diseases.

With no enrichment or opportunity to exercise or play, the dogs are left to dig holes and lie in filthy, jagged-edged old chemical tanks.

This nearly blind dog may have cataracts, trauma to the eyes, or even an underlying metabolic or infectious disease.

Milo, who had few teeth, was very thin and had difficulty eating the kibble that he was provided with.

Some dogs have severe dental infections, which can allow bacteria to enter the bloodstream and lead to liver, kidney, and heart disease.

Severe dental disease causes infection and pain in the jaw, broken teeth, loss of both teeth and bone, and difficulty eating.

Dogs given transfusions are usually anemic or in critical condition. Their veterinarians expect the blood to be coming from donors who are healthy, but these dogs were constantly exposed to ticks, carriers of diseases easily transmitted by blood.

In a crude attempt to control ticks and fleas—carriers of blood-borne infectious diseases—workers sprayed the dogs with diluted termite killer, which got into their eyes and blistered their skin.

Many dogs had nails so overgrown that they curled into their paw pads, pushed their toes apart, and caused them to limp. There is no system for routine nail trimming.