It all started when her friend suggested she adopt a greyhound.
Lynn Rapa, a 55-year-old Methuen resident and director of human resources for the town of Salem, N.H., took the advice and rescued Roxie, now 13, a female greyhound who raced at Seabrook Greyhound Park.
That eventually led to Rapa's quest to end dog racing in Massachusetts. She assisted with the failed effort to ban the practice in 2000, and eight years later, she's back at it.
She and her husband, Bob, went to pet stores, malls, supermarkets and fairs, helping to collect the 150,000 signatures needed to get Question 3 on the Nov. 4 ballot.
In addition to Roxie, the Rapas now also own two other greyhounds.
— J.J. Huggins
How did you get involved in the effort to ban dog racing?
I got involved in the effort as a result of adopting Roxie in 1999, and I did go ahead and hold a sign at Lawrence High School, I believe it was during November of 2000, with Roxie in the freezing cold. ... I got involved because I really just think they deserve a home like any other dog.
Had you been involved in politics before trying to ban dog racing?
No. Fairly apolitical. Just a dog person more than a political person.
How do these dogs behave once you bring them home?
Curious. I would describe the first reaction as curious. I think that a lot goes into how you handle them. Most dogs who are adopted from race tracks have to learn how to go up and down stairs, which takes usually a day or two. It is easier to have another dog show the dog, and that's what I let happen.
Why don't they know how to go up and down stairs?
They're just taken out of the crate and brought to the track. They're only really let out for 15-minute increments about four times a day. They just get let out into a fenced-in area, so stairs are just befuddling. That's how they look, they look just befuddled, like, 'How am I here?' And, 'How are you up there?' And, 'How did you get there?' And, 'I want to be with you."
What's so bad about dog racing?
The injuries, certainly. The way they are treated after they stop winning, and the food... They get various diseases just from eating raw, contaminated meat, which may be cheap and it may be the most practical thing, but they never get to, you know, they never get to play. They don't have a normal dog life. We have to stop that now. Our society has come beyond that, hopefully.
