Ex-guard charged in greyhound deaths

The remains of thousands are found on his property. He says he killed them humanely, but officials disagree.

©Associated Press
May 23, 2002

LILLIAN, Ala. -- A former Florida dog track security guard was charged with animal cruelty Wednesday after the remains of as many as 3,000 greyhounds were found on his property.

Robert Rhodes, 68, said that he profited for more than 40 years by killing the injured or aging dogs with a gunshot to the head at the request of racing dog owners but that he is no longer in the business.

Florida officials were investigating allegations that dogs from Pensacola Greyhound Park, where Rhodes used to work, were improperly destroyed.

Rhodes told the Associated Press before his arrest that he sometimes received $10 for shooting a dog and that he believes track officials had turned him in.

"I did this on my own and have nobody else to blame," Rhodes said. He said he was unaware of recently toughened animal cruelty laws in Alabama.

"I don't condone cruelty to animals in any way," Rhodes said. "I'd swear on a stack of Bibles that the dogs didn't suffer."

David Whetstone, Baldwin County district attorney, said necropsies of four dogs found that only one had been shot cleanly through the brain. The others received bullet wounds through the neck and elsewhere, indicating they suffered before dying, he said.

The Derby Lane greyhound track in St. Petersburg says none of its racing dogs have ever been sent to Rhodes to be destroyed.

"We're appalled at this. It's very upsetting," said Derby Lane spokeswoman Vera Filipelli. "We don't know all the details. We're waiting for the facts just like everybody else."

Derby Lane says it adopts out almost all of its retired greyhounds. Any greyhounds that must be euthanized due to injury are destroyed humanely, Filipelli said.

State officials obtained a warrant Tuesday to search Rhodes' 18 acres of coastal property in Lillian, just across a bridge from Pensacola, after receiving a tip and looking at satellite images that showed animal bones strewn about the property.

Rhodes did not dispute that perhaps thousands of greyhounds were buried on his property, and said some bones of the animals apparently had been scattered by coyotes.

Sheriff's investigator Huey Mack Jr. said Rhodes faces three felony animal cruelty charges. Animal torture is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Rhodes was fired from Pensacola Greyhound Park as a result of the investigations, said Daniel R. Wilson, the park's assistant general manager. The track on Wednesday also fired two guards and a kennel operator in connection with the Rhodes case.

Brian Sodergren of the Humane Society of the United States called for an expanded investigation.

"It's inconceivable to think that this had been going on for years without track officials having knowledge of the fate of thousands of dogs," Sodergren said.

A small percentage of greyhounds are adopted after years on the tracks. Many more are killed, sold for research or shipped to tracks in foreign countries, according to the Humane Society.

-- Times staff writer Mike Brassfield contributed to this report.

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