My girlfriend, Lara, and I have been fostering this beautiful boy for the past five weeks.
Miloš is a six-year-old retired racer who has quickly stolen our hearts and become part of our little family. Just look at that sweet face. If you don’t already know, greyhound racing is a horrific practice, and most dogs die by their 5th birthday.
We recently applied to adopt him permanently as our beloved pet. Unfortunately, our building body corporate has decided that greyhounds “cannot successfully live in a unit” and that we must give him up. As we explained to them when we applied to keep him, greyhounds are actually very well suited to apartment living. These big lazy goofballs rest for 23 hours a day, requiring only a 20-minute walk. They’re naturally quiet and short-haired, and so far, all our neighbours who have met him have loved him too.
Our boy is a bit spoilt. He gets two walks every day (3 on days that his walker comes) and more cuddles than even he knows what to do with. Despite investing in a $200 toilet for him, Miloš always waits to go outside. He is so well-trained that he never climbs on furniture, doesn’t beg for food, is gentle around children and other pets, and very rarely barks. His only vice is his love of chasing birds, but only when they’re flying. He’s just a sweet old man enjoying his retirement.
Regardless, Australian law means that you can buy your own home, but you still do not get the right to choose what to do with it. Understandable, if that pet is a nuisance to neighbours. Less understandable when that pet is happy, healthy, and causing no harm to anyone.
Families come in a multitude of diverse forms. We are a same-sex couple who chose to rescue a senior dog to give him a shot at a happy life. A decision which is, inexplicably, more policed than choosing to have children, which we would be freely allowed to do as a heterosexual couple.
We are planning to fight hard for Miloš. We know that he loves us just as much as we love him, and he deserves a happy retirement. This means that we must hire legal help, take our case through a convoluted and expensive legal system, and still have no guarantee that we will be allowed to keep our boy.
This is a long message, but it’s an important one to share. If anyone has any advice or experience in dealing with this situation, we’d love to hear from you.
We’d also love for people to be aware of how unfair this system is that the government permits greyhound racing knowing it is a cruel practice which does not adhere to even minimal animal welfare rules, and also refuses to allow citizens to rescue these dogs from a corrupt system.
Please reblog this post. I plan to share it with my body corporate to show them that what they’re doing is wrong and that people are paying attention.
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