Abandoned Guam Greyhound Cheers Up Veterinarian's Bedridden Mother In New York!

By Jeff Marchesseault
GUAM - It seems one of Guam Greyhound Park's abandoned racing dogs has been welcomed with open arms into the home of an ailing elderly woman and her care-giving daughter. It's a stranger-than-fiction story of the neglected being nourished and the newly nourished enlivening the sickly. An epic misadventure spanning an ocean and a continent and redounding to a glorious happy ending.
One moment a thoroughbred racer chasing a fake rabbit around a dirt track on bets she would win. The next moment "adopted". Then suddenly cut loose into the wild to fend for herself. Eventually rescued and cared for by humane activists. Then airflown to a strange new land to be domesticated and domiciled. Pearl's newfound place in a Yonkers, New York home follows the dramatic, large-scale rescue and recovery effort that saved her life and the lives of more than 100 other greyhounds after the abrupt closure of the Guam Greyhound Park and racing track in November.
Hastily "adopted" on island, about 150 of the dogs soon turned up abandoned, malnourished, skin-diseased, and with broken bones -- surfacing on the roadsides, parks and jungles of Guam.
During the roundup of surviving dogs, the animals were fed, cleaned up and cared for at the Guam Animals In Need (GAIN) shelter, then flown to the East and West Coasts of the U.S. mainland for further recovery and proper adoption into area homes.
According to The Journal News, a mostly-recovered Pearl has since charmed her way into her Veterinarian's home:
[Dr. Joan] Kobalka has been a veterinarian for nearly 20 years and, as a veterinary volunteer with the rescue group [Greyhound Rescue and Rehabilitation], her job is to foster dogs until they are healthy enough for adoption. As Pearl's health improved, Kobalka said, she decided to keep her because she became attached to the vet's bedridden mother.
Filled with energy, the black and white, 55-pound dog provides Kobalka's mother, Frances, with plenty of kisses, while keeping her company. Kobalka said it seems as if Pearl provides her mother with a purpose.