Speakers
Our speakers for the 2012 Greyhound Festival of the Bluegrass:
The Lexus Project of New York will speak about their legal defense of at-risk Greyhounds. Here is a little information about the founding of The Lexus Project:
In October 2009 a high prey greyhound named Lexus, having been declared a vicious dog, sat on death row in a Rhode Island kill shelter waiting to be put down. Her crime? Left unleashed in a dog park she followed her instincts and killed a Pomeranian puppy. (Small, long-haired dogs are perceived by many greyhounds as prey; this is the instinctive response of a sighthound.) The greyhound was seized and her owner attended a hearing without counsel and the judgment paved the way for her execution.
Luckily for Lexus, Robin Mittasch read her story on the internet forum Greytalk and was moved, together with her husband, Rich (who is an attorney) to fight for her release. Thanks to a quirk in the Rhode Island statute he was able (with the assistance of an attorney in Rhode Island who also volunteered his time to file the Court papers) to negotiate the release of Lexus from her cell and her removal from the state. As she jumped into his van, snuggled up and ate cookies, the idea of the Lexus project was born.
AND
Catherine White, D.V.M. will be speaking about Renal Failure. Dr. White is a 1998 graduate of Oklahoma State University School of Veterinary Medicine. She built and opened Finchville Animal Hospital in 2005. Finchville Animal Hospital takes care of the Shamrock Greyhound Placement's foster dogs in Kentucky and boasts a large population of Greyhound patients. We are going to have a hands-on class along with Dr. White to familiarize attendees with infusion equipment.