A man was walking when he heard thrashing and screaming nearby. He stopped to investigate the noise, and found a greyhound hanging by a rope from a tree. The unknown man decided to cut the dog down and save it.

Bengy, a 14 year old hunting greyhound with a bad heart, was lucky. Although greyhound racing is on the decline in the United States and greyhound rescue efforts have been well publicized, things are different in Spain and other countries that still allow greyhound racing.

In Spain, many greyhounds are found dead, dumped in ditches and wells or hung from trees. Thanks to the efforts of two greyhound rescue groups and a veterinary professor at Ohio State, Bengy and another racing greyhound, Aro, were saved from a similar fate.

Guillermo Couto, a professor of hematology and oncology at OSU’s veterinary hospital, has been helping rescue greyhounds for 12 to 13 years, working primarily with Greyhound Adoption of Ohio. He was initially inspired to adopt a greyhound because one’s smile reminded him and his wife of a previous dog they had owned.

“I just love dogs and I’m a vet,” he said. “The truth is, the way we got our first greyhound, Clyde, was that he smiled.”

Couto and Greyhound Adoption of Ohio have started helping SOS Galgos, a greyhound rescue group based near Barcelona, with their attempts to save greyhounds in Spain. There is only one greyhound racing track left in Spain, in Barcelona, but some residents of southern and central Spain use greyhounds for hunting rabbits.

Couto first aided the SOS Galgos by helping them obtain medical supplies for their clinic, but was asked in July if he wanted to take a dog back to the United States. He ended up taking back Bengy and Aro and adopting them.

Linda Perko, director of Greyhound Adoption of Ohio, said the dogs adjust well to household life.

“They’re just wonderful dogs,” she said. “They’re very gentle, very friendly. There’s a phrase, ‘they’re 45 miles-per-hour couch potatos.’ They’re inherently fast, but they adapt very easily to home life.”

Efforts to rescue dogs from Spain are geared towards bringing attention to the plight of Spanish greyhounds.

“It’s really not feasible to consider importing large numbers of dogs from Spain for the purpose of finding homes,” Perko said. “The goal of bringing over the dogs we have from Spain is to heighten awareness in the United States of what happens to the dogs in Spain.”

Greyhound Protection League president Susan Netboy said the greyhound racing conditions in countries other than the United States are worrisome.

“The Greyhound Protection League is extremely concerned about this because things are bad enough in the United States where at least some safeguards exist,” she said. “It’s wide open, particularly in Third World countries. To anyone who cares about animals, it’s a very frightening thought.”

Perko said Couto and other OSU veterinarians are helpful in educating people about greyhounds.

Saving greyhounds is important because they are universal dog blood donors. The OSU veterinary hospital has between 45 and 50 dogs available to give blood. In 2001, 400 units of blood were given, Couto said.

Without that supply, acquiring blood would be more difficult.

“The other dogs are not as docile as the greyhound in terms of collecting the blood,” Couto said. “For a lot of the non-greyhound dogs, you have to use sedation. Most other breeds do not have a lot of universal donors so we have to screen a lot more dogs to come up with the same amount of donors.”

Perko said Couto is an example of what veterinarians should be.

“He’s a very good friend to animals,” she said. “I think he epitomizes what a good veterinarian should be. He goes the extra mile to help animals. It’s not only his skill, but his passion.”

Purebred rescue groups like Greyhound Adoption of Ohio help free up space at shelters for other animals, plus these groups are often better equipped to take care of those dogs.

Couto said the racing industry owes greyhounds the right to grow old.

“I think a lot of people make money out of the greyhound industry and the least they owe these dogs is the right to age with dignity,” he said.