The press against the mistreatment of greyhounds is slowly but surely growing and those in the racing industry have responded ferociously to it. Whilst I will admit that I do feel some sympathy for those that do treat their dogs well, I do not appreciate the sentiments of Lord Lipsey, the chairman of the British Greyhound Racing Board. He has accused people like me of attempting to "...propagate fiction about what happens to greyhounds when they retire from racing with parts of the article inaccurate and highly offensive".
I would just like to reinforce the fact that everything I have ever published on here has a firm foundation in fact. The brutal treatment of greyhounds is inexcusable, as is burying your head in the sand Lord Lipsey! I will continue to publish the truth, but people like him give us further grounds to fight.
The full link to Lipsey's comments can be found here, but an extract appears below:
The fact is that when their racing career is over most greyhounds will live out a happy retirement. Less than 10,000 greyhounds are now coming into licensed racing each year. Almost 4,500 are re-homed annually by the Retired Greyhound Trust - twice as many as five years ago. Approximately a further 3,500 find homes either with their owners, their trainer or through other re-homing charities. Some of the others will continue their careers on independent tracks or will return to their native Ireland. Some are euthanased, because, for example, they are temperamentally unsuitable for re-homing or for health reasons. The rules lay down that this be done by a registered vet and anyone doing otherwise risks a ban from the sport and even prosecution
In response, the APGAW report of 2007 concluded that
...an average of 2,478 British bred dogs were earmarked by the NGRC but never made it to NGRC tracks... we must assume that a significant number of these youngsters are destroyed each year
It is important to bear in mind that Irish greyhounds make up 75% of those racing here, so this number only deals with aroud 25% of the greyhounds that are put to sleep for no apparent reason. If that number is taken as gospel for Ireland as well then 7,434 more greyhound puppies are slaughtered. My greyhound, Molly, was one of those Irish puppies once. I couldn't imagine not having her now, but she could have been one of the unlucky ones. This makes me angry, but Lipsey's comments anger me more because...
Approximately a further 3,500 find homes either with their owners, their trainer or through other re-homing charities. Some of the others will continue their careers on independent tracks or will return to their native Ireland. Some are euthanased, because, for example, they are temperamentally unsuitable for re-homing or for health reasons
The NGRC completed the retirement of 18,864 greyhounds in 2007. That is a massive number, but they have yet to disclose exactly what has happened to all of them. They have the data that records the fate or fortune of these 18,864 greyhounds. So 3,500 are re-homed elsewhere, but what happened to the rest of them? Even is some of that number are raced independently, which they shouldn't be if they have officially retired (yet another loophole), why on Earth are some returned to Ireland? Almost16,000 greyhounds were brutally slaughtered there last year.
Believe it or not, there is actually an option for euthanasia on the retiremnt forms too. Three of the reasons that could be given for putting a greyhound to sleep are listed below:
1. Injury not treated on economic grounds
2. No home or retirement place could be found
3. Unsuitable as a pet
The options would be laughable were it not so tragic. Putting ananimal to sleep is supposed to be
in the interests of the animal experiencing significant suffering with a poor prognosis for recovery.This means that numbers 2 and 3 do not count as viable reasons. As such, they have been unlawfully killed.
This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as Lipsey's comments are concerned. Read them for yourself. After reading that rubbish I am just thankful that I have my beautiful girl here wth me now, and it makes me more determined to do something about the rest...
