One Good Deed: Christine Dorchak (COM’90)
Making greyhound racing a thing of the past
Christine Dorchak (COM’90) at home with Brooklyn, whom she rescued from the infamous Canidrome racetrack in Macau, China. Photo by Carey Thiel
One Good Deed: Christine Dorchak (COM’90)
Making greyhound racing a thing of the past
Christine Dorchak is committed to saving the lives of dogs. It’s the reason she travels around the world, wrote a book, gave a TED Talk, and even became a lawyer. But first, a dog had to save her life.
“Just after graduating from the College of Communication, I was struck by a speeding MBTA trolley while walking with my dog, Kelsey, a black Russian terrier,” says Dorchak (COM’90).
“She saved me by pulling us from the direct path of the train.”
Dorchak suffered head injuries, broken bones, a crushed spleen, and severe damage to her memory. As she recuperated, she resolved to spend the rest of her life dedicated to canine welfare—a thank you to the brave pup who was also gravely injured in the rescue. Dorchak’s dedication took the form of a single issue: outlawing greyhound racing in as many places as she possibly could.
She and her husband, Carey Thiel, founded GREY2K USA Worldwide in 2001 as a nonprofit group bent on outlawing the sport in Massachusetts. (Dorchak earned a law degree in 2005 and passed the Massachusetts bar in order to combat the industry’s legal teams.) It has since grown to a worldwide lobbying organization with a bevy of significant victories under its belt—including the outlawing of the sport in 43 states, the closing of 47 dog tracks internationally, and the passage of 24 greyhound protection laws. Today, she says, only two American tracks remain, both in West Virginia.
GREY2K turned its attention to China in 2011, when Dorchak learned about its infamous Canidrome in Macau, where, she says, “no dog ever got out alive.”
A GREY2K board member flew to China to investigate. “She sent me the photograph of a stunning greyhound named Brooklyn, and I set out to save him,” Dorchak says.
“Carey and I launched a worldwide petition that garnered over 300,000 signatures. We held a vigil for Brooklyn and his fellow hounds across 10 countries, and then traveled to Macau to meet with officials.”
They spent seven years agitating, and the track eventually closed—and that’s how Brooklyn found his new forever home in the US. In 2023, Dorchak wrote about the experience in Brooklyn Goes Home: The Rise and Fall of American Greyhound Racing and the Dog that Inspired a Movement (Lantern Publishing & Media).
GREY2K is still racking up victories through advocacy and lobbying work. Most recently, Agua Caliente, the only dog track in Mexico, closed and all surviving hounds were put up for adoption. Earlier in 2024, Arizona, New Hampshire, and Connecticut passed anti-greyhound racing policies. Meanwhile, the Greyhound Protection Act, a bipartisan bill written and sponsored by GREY2K, is working its way through Congress.
“Although GREY2K’s work will stay focused on ending dog racing, it’s my hope that others looking to take on hard fights will find inspiration in our journey,” Dorchak says. “Achieving progress is not easy, but if we stay grounded, learn from our mistakes, and keep fighting, change happens.”
Do you know of a BU alum who has taken the initiative to right a wrong? Email us at alums@bu.edu.
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