New Initiative Achieves Record Adoptions In A Single Day!
A single day record of 14 retired racing greyhounds were adopted as pets into Victorian homes yesterday on the back of a brand new initiative held at Flemington racecourse.
A total of 220 people attended the ‘Greyhound Adoption Program Afternoon Tea’, including about 100 staff and volunteers from the Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP), along with 120 people who had previously made enquires about greyhounds as pets.
“We invited about 170 people who had made enquiries about greyhounds as pets at places like the GAP stand at the Royal Melbourne Show and the ‘Every Greyhound Has a Story’ photographic exhibition that was held in the city in April,” said Lucy Brennan from Greyhound Racing Victoria, which manages the Greyhound Adoption Program.
“From those 170 invitees we had a 70 per cent return rate, so the event hit all the right buttons.”
“We had 60 retired greyhounds there, of which 17 were available for adoption, so for 14 of those 17 to find new homes is a great achievement.”
The day also capped a record week for the GAP, with a total of 38 greyhounds being adopted.
Larissa Darragh, Manager of the Greyhound Adoption Program, said adoption numbers were at an all time high.
“Since January this year we have been absolutely flat out with adoptions. I’m not sure what the reason is, but I suspect it may have something to do with the GAP Facebook Page, which was recently introduced and has a pretty big following,” Larissa said.
“Having an event like this at a place like Flemington is absolutely ideal, as it’s in a central location with lots of parking and I think adopters enjoyed the opportunity of meeting a whole lot of available greyhounds in one place.”
The initiative looks certain to become a regular event on the Greyhound Adoption Program’s calendar going forward.