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American Morning

Maggie McCurry Saves Greyhounds From Almost Certain Death

Aired July 10, 2002 - 09:46   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Fast, sleek greyhounds fly down race tracks all across America, and then their owners get to bask in the glory when they win, but when a dog's speed goes, well, so does the dog, and usually not into a very happy retirement. So one woman decided to do something about that and change it. Maggie McCurry is a pilot who flies around the country, saving greyhounds from almost certain death and brining them to new, loving homes. And she's here with us this morning with two of her dogs, who only last week were racing as I understand it, correct?

MAGGIE MCCURRY, WINGS FOR GREYHOUNDS: That's right, yes.

HARRIS: And where were they racing?

MCCURRY: They were racing at Shoreline Star in Connecticut, up until last week.

HARRIS: Up until last week, and apparently they weren't doing very well.

MCCURRY: No, they weren't doing very well, so now they're between jobs, and they're looking for new jobs as a pet.

HARRIS: What would happen to then if it wasn't for a lady like you?

MCCURRY: Just like any other animal that can't a find home in this country, they're euthanized.

HARRIS: Just a couple of weeks ago or a couple of months ago, I think I read some story about some place down south that had 600 or 700 dogs, or some crazy number like that, buried in the back.

MCCURRY: That's correct. And somebody's found the biscuits here.

HARRIS: You can have the biscuits; leave out the scripts. Just leave us the scripts. I might need those later. Thank you.

MCCURRY: Yes, unfortunately, there was a discovery in Alabama, and a large number of greyhounds were found having been killed. And we want to stop this from happening. So we're trying to find as many homes as possible. There's about 200 little adoption groups, and some bigger adoption groups working frantically to place these dogs into loving homes, so we don't want to see this happen anymore.

HARRIS: How did you get involved with this? Do you have an affection for Greyhounds particularly to begin with, or what?

MCCURRY: Well, we thought we might want to adopt one, and a friend of mine told me there were Greyhounds at the local pet store. So I went down there, and before I could stop myself, I said, call me crazy, but I'm a lady pilot, I have a little airplane, can I help. And two weeks later, I was flying greyhounds out of Tucson Greyhound Park to Southern California for adoption.

HARRIS: No kidding. From what I hear, what I read this morning, you call it something like a flying SUV.

MCCURRY: Yes, it's kind of a flying minivan. It's a six-seater twin-engine airplane. We got the middle seats out for the dogs. It's configured for the greyhounds. Their pillows, and blankets and all kinds of nice, soft stuff, and they just settle down there, and think this is a really nice dog trailer.

HARRIS: Really? They travel well? I know what it's like to drive around in van with two kids, let alone fly around with six dogs in the back?

MCCURRY: No, it's not six dogs. We fly four, but they're used to traveling, and they're used to hopping into a dog trailer to go to the track. So this is just an exceptionally nice dog trailer.

HARRIS: So they don't go bonkers when you get them up in the air.

MCCURRY: No.

HARRIS: Now, what kind of a pet is greyhound. This is a dog that's Used -- especially this one right here, Connie, who won't sit still. These dogs are used to getting out and running around. Wouldn't a greyhound be tough for a family to keep at home?

MCCURRY: Give him the biscuit.

They're not -- they're actually really. We call them 45-mile-an- hour couch potatoes, because they're hound dogs. They sleep all day. Even when they're racing, they sprint. They do a 30-second race twice a week pretty much, and that's it, they're done for the week. So they're not long distance dogs,they sprinters, and then they slow down.

Also she's very excited. I mean, she's in a whole new world. She had a job, and now she's unemployed, and everything's changing, and she's been in the airplane. She hasn't been in the limos. She doesn't know what she's doing.

HARRIS: Yes, she seems pretty geeked by all -- Jersey here, I can see why Jersey didn't make much money. Jersey's not moving. Greyhounds are supposed to be a little more energetic than this, aren't they? MCCURRY: They're pretty much -- they're real quiet. We call them velcro dogs. See how she's stuck on to me. They're just stick on to people. But we say God made the greyhound and then he ran out of sugar. They're very, very sweet, and they're temperamently bred to be gentle.

HARRIS: They're easy to take care of then?

MCCURRY: They're easy to care of, and...

HARRIS: How about with children?

MCCURRY: They're very good with children. Greyhounds will tend to walk away before they'll confront, sort of like the collie does. I mean, any dog has a limit. But greyhounds are probably best suited to be with children. They're very good with the right family.

HARRIS: Now, how many of these dogs I guess get put into retirement every year.

MCCURRY: We estimate about 25,000 dogs leave the active racing career every single year.

HARRIS: You can't find a home for 25,000 dogs a year, can you?

MCCURRY: We're doing the best we can. Not there yet. We're not at 100 percent by far, but we're doing the best we can. And by letting the public see the greyhounds, they are their own best publicity. People don't think about them as pets, but they're wonderful pets. They just want, you know, a couch and kibble (ph) just like any other dog.

HARRIS: They're OK in a house.

MCCURRY: They're great in an apartment. They don't go anywhere. They from the bed to couch to your bed to their bed to the couch. And then they get tired from having to decide which bed to go to, so they go to sleep.

HARRIS: Sounds about like my son.

Maggie McCurry, thanks much. Good luck with the program. In fact, let's put up the Web address. I think we have that available. You have a Web site and a telephone number folks can call to contact you all.

MCCURRY: Right, the -- to adopt a greyhound call 1-800-348-2517. That's the National Greyhound Adoption Program, and they refer people all over the country, and the Web site is www.ngap.org.

HARRIS: There you go. And we will make this available as well on the CNN Web site.

MCCURRY: Correct.

HARRIS: We'll help you with out with that. Check out cnn.com as well folks if you want to check how to adopt one of these beautiful little greyhounds.

Maggie McCurry, thanks for bringing them in. Good luck.

MCCURRY: Thank you.

HARRIS: Happy travels to you.

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