Patterson Veterinary Supply, Inc., still hasn’t followed through on its pledge to help the 150 or so greyhounds revealed in PETA’s exposé to be suffering in squalor at Texas-based The Pet Blood Bank, Inc., whose blood products Patterson distributed — so today, Paul McCartney sent a letter on PETA's behalf calling on Patterson’s parent company to step up and help rescue the dogs from the facility in Cherokee.
“I am writing to appeal to you to step up, make good on your earlier pledge, and rescue the dogs whose blood your company has used for many years, knowing that these 150 or so dogs — who were allowed to get into appalling shape and who are now kept in a-mileless-than-ideal conditions — helped your business at a cost to their wellbeing,” wrote McCartney. "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.” I’m sure you know that dogs need affection and comfort — a bed to lie on, warmth in the winter, the opportunity to run and play, and just like you and me, they crave happiness and companionship.
“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, some of them cringing at the footfall of the person coming to take their blood again and again. They had a hard life on the racetrack, and they will die without love if left where they are. I’ve seen pictures of how they have suffered from nails that have grown back into their paw pads, as well as from infected gums and rotted teeth, and I’m told that some have apparently even died from a lack of water.
“Good people, professional greyhound rescuers, are standing by to place these dogs in good homes and to transport them to those homes at no cost to anyone. Please do the right thing and win the support of all kind veterinarians and all kind souls the whole world over.”
PETA — whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way” — notes that reputable greyhound-rescue groups are standing by to place the dogs in good homes, at no cost to anyone.
