After outbreak, track starting race to recovery

Bill Ross lost nine members of his family last week.

The dogs that met their fate at the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track may have been just a name and number to those who placed bets on how fast the animals could chase an electronic rabbit in a circle.

Ross considered the greyhounds more like blood relatives.

As he sat on a barstool on the track grounds Sunday, his eyes fixed on a small television screen behind the counter.

His thoughts were with the greyhounds that fell victim to an infection that seeped its way into dog tracks around Florida last week and is suspected of killing at least 16 dogs at the Naples-Fort Myers track in Bonita Springs, where Ross owns a kennel.

The upper respiratory infection is suspected to be "kennel cough," a disease that spreads through coughing and one greyhound owners liken to the plague, said Ross, who has owned racing dogs for two decades.

"We've dealt with the cough throughout the years," said Ross, 59. "It's never been like this."

Photo by Jeremy Lyverse, Daily News

Sam Garcia of San Carlos Park reacts after the dog he had picked, MJS Ruby Jem, finished in second place during the ninth race at the Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Track on Sunday. The track is trying to resume normal operations after an infection last week left 20 to 25 dogs ill and at least 16 dead.

An estimated 25 to 30 dogs were reported ill at the track on Bonita Beach Road last week, prompting track officials to put a self-imposed quarantine into effect and cancel a Saturday matinee race.

For employees and regular spectators, the impact of last week's events were hard to ignore as the track attempted to resume a normal schedule and host matinee races on Sunday afternoon.

Last week, the track cut down activities for the infected dogs to give them time to recuperate and heal, but the decision also tapered races down to eight to 11 daily.

The track hosted only 11 races during a Sunday matinee when it would typically hold 14.

Ross said he was the only kennel owner at the Bonita track who refused to let any of his dogs perform in races at the track after greyhounds throughout the state started showing signs of illness. He estimated his greyhounds make up 20 percent of the dogs who race at the track.

"People get upset because I'm shutting down my kennel, but I don't care," Ross said. "I'm not willing to take that risk."

Ross suspects his dogs died from pneumonia, not the respiratory infection suspected of killing 19 greyhounds statewide, a count estimated on Friday by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Division of Para-mutuel Wagering, which oversees 15 tracks across the state.

The Jacksonville Kennel Club and the Flagler Dog Track in Miami have also reported illnesses.

University of Florida veterinarians are conducting tests to determine the strain affecting the dogs. Generally, the symptoms found in the dogs are referred to as "kennel cough" because it tends to hit facilities where a large number of dogs pass through.

The ailment isn't usually considered fatal and can also lead to pneumonia, according to veterinary experts.

Ross and other kennel owners at the track have spent the past week pumping their greyhounds full of antibiotics, he said.

"There's nobody here that wants to see anything happen to these dogs," said Ross, who hopes to start racing his greyhounds again on Wednesday.

Joe DiMassimo owns and trains approximately 80 greyhounds throughout the state, including nine in Bonita Springs. On Sunday he chose to race only one of his dogs, Barts Blue Jeans, who came in second on the sixth race of the day at the Bonita track.

DiMassimo, 73, said he plans to put more dogs on the sandy track this week, which will go toward helping the track maintain its regular racing schedule.

"If they start to show any sign of sickness, we'll pull them," he said.

Employees and regulars noticed only slight differences Sunday as the track tried to resume some degree of normalcy.

"It's been busier," said Bobbie Bullock, 53, who has worked at a concession stand at the track for 15 years.

While kennel owners and regular spectators attributed a lull in business to the illness that left track officials with fewer races to schedule, Bullock said dwindling crowds have more to do with the growth that has taken place in south Lee County. The 30-year-old greyhound track used to be one of only a few spectator events in town, she said.

"There's 9,000 things to do in Bonita now," Bullock said. "This used to be it."

A security supervisor at the track estimated a 560-person head count on Sunday afternoon.

Longtime residents Jamie and Diane Carr frequent the track with their 12-year-old son, Ryan, and were among those who sympathized with the kennel owners who lost so many dogs within a matter of days.

Diane Carr, 40, said she was surprised to find the track open Sunday.

"Those poor animals," she said. "It's just one of those things that happens . . . I think the track does a good job of keeping things clean."

"It's bound to happen when you have all of those animals together," said Jamie Carr, 44.

Faye Radtke, who was vacationing in Lee County from Minnesota with her husband and children, said she visits the Bonita Springs track about once a year.

Radtke looked on as her 16-year-old son, Daniel, flipped through a track schedule and selected a dog named Husker to win the next race.

The family heard about the greyhound deaths earlier in the week when they considered betting on Saturday matinee races, which were canceled, but it didn't stop them from coming back Sunday to see if they could continue the luck that won them $50 at the track Friday night.

"We felt bad for the dogs," she said. "But it didn't bother us."

For some spectators, the Sunday races were simply a chance to spend Father's Day with family.

"I gave him a choice between a steak barbecue and this," said Dorothy Brown, 71, of her husband, Robert, who flipped through his race schedule and pondered his bets. "He chose this."

The couple drove an hour from Englewood to attend Sunday's races. Dorothy Brown said she was saddened to hear a number of the dogs had fallen ill, but pleased that enough were well to resume races.

"I like anything that's dumb enough to chase an electronic rabbit," Dorothy Brown said