After adopting an Irish sight hound, her dog Lily, Laura Schenone discovers a remarkable and little-known fight to gain justice for dogs and for all animals. Greyhounds, bred to be the fastest dogs on earth, are beautiful, gentle, and astonishing creatures. Yet for decades, countless numbers of them have been abandoned and destroyed every year once they can no longer compete and win. The Dogs of Avalon introduces us to the strong-willed Marion Fitzgibbon, born in rural Ireland, where animals are valued for their utility. But Fitzgibbon believes suffering is felt by all creatures and champions the cause of strays, baffling those around her—including her family—as she, and a group of local women rescue any animal in need, taking on increasingly risky missions. Website http://lauraschenone.com Facebook https://www.facebook.com/LauraSchenoneAuthor/ Laura’s Books http://lauraschenone.com/books Notes Owen Patrick Smith (1869-1927) is the American who invented the mechanical rabbit, which sparked the beginnings of greyhound racing. Beverly Wolf is the woman who worked very closely with Marion for two decades. Beverly and her husband housed many of the animals that they saved. More Greyhound Episodes We have five other greyhound-themed episodes, click here to take a listen http://www.thisispawprint.com/category/greyhound-week/ Thank you, Laura! Special thanks to Melinda Lee for co-hosting the episode with me and writing several of the questions, and Will Scarlett of W. W. Norton & Company for arranging the interview.  Photo credit: Simon Schaffner  About Nancy and Harold Rhee We have been married over 20 years, fostered over 60 dogs in the past four years, and we love animal rescue and the amazing people who dedicate their lives. And of course, the dogs and cats! If you want to learn more about Nancy and Harold, go to our About Us page at http://thisispawprint.com/about or listen to our introductory podcast episode, "Fifty Puppies and a Podcast." http://thisispawprint.com/000 About Pawprint Pawprint (or Paw Print) is a weekly podcast dedicated to animal rescue, adoption, and the heroes who make it happen. Volunteer, walk, adopt, or foster a dog, cat, rabbit, or other wonderful pet through your local shelter, humane society, SPCA, pound, and animal control. Stop abuse, and help increase animal protection, welfare, and rights.  http://thisispawprint.com http://animalrescuepodcast.com Don’t miss any new episodes. Sign up for our email list. If you want to join our animal rescue community and receive two free bonus dog-training resources from Irith Bloom, positive reinforcement dog trainer, go to http://thisispawprint.com/ask. Irith can be found at http://www.thesophisticateddog.com/ About Pawprint’s Music All of Pawprint's music is composed by Luke Gartner-Brereton. Luke is based in Brisbane, Australia, and he composes a wide variety of songs and musical loops http://info.vanillagroovemedia.com http://vanillagroovestudios.com http://soundcloud.com/luke-gartnerbrereton