Website Exposes Truth of Cruelty behind Greyhound Racing: Videos, Pictures and Fact Sheets Educate on Why Shouldn’t Support Greyhound Racing Industry

I’ll let the website speak for itself. You can’t argue with videos and pictures.

Please visit http://www.greyhoundaction.org.uk/igreyhound.html to view the Fact Sheet section and learn more about the cruelty of greyhound racing and the cruelty of the greyhound racing industry.

Undercover Investigation Again Exposes Truth of Greyhound Racing Industry: Greyhounds Sacrificed to be Prodded, Abused, and Killed in Research

I received this email from another group. I’ve attached their comments below and then the story below that. I’ll let their words speak to the disgust of this killing program. Proof again of the animal abuse inherent in greyhound racing.

Anyone wanting further information, please contact Trudy Baker at: info (at) greytexploitations.com Trudy is "...more than willing to communicate with anyone who wants further information."

From the email I received:

“Yet another undercover investigation of how the greyhound racing industry so crudely ‘take care’ of their greyhounds. Not only are greyhounds being sacrificed for scientific research once they are no longer a financial asset in their retirement, they are being sacrificed as young as a year old, simply because they won’t chase or perform.

Please leave online comments at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3908388.ece

Please also take some time to thank the journalist Daniel Foggo, yet again, who investigated and wrote the article. Without him, the abuse, slaughter and exploitation of greyhounds would have continued to be denied by the racing industry who clearly do ‘take care’ of their greyhounds but only as cheaply and as quickly as possible! You can email Daniel at The Sunday Times via the news desk: newsdesk@sunday-times.co.uk”

Article:

Greyhound breeder offers slow dogs to be killed for research

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/

news/uk/crime/article3908388.ece

Daniel Foggo

The largest breeder of greyhounds in Britain is offering to sell healthy young dogs to be killed and dissected for research, an investigation has found.

Charles Pickering told an undercover reporter that his breeding programme continually throws up dozens of “fit and healthy” dogs that are “just a bit too slow for the tracks” and therefore a financial burden to him.

Pickering, who offered to sell them for £30 each, said he was helping to supply dogs to the animal teaching hospital at Liverpool University.

He provides yearling greyhounds to Richard Fielding, a greyhound trainer, who gives his older dogs for free to university veterinary staff, who put them to sleep and remove organs for teaching and research.

Pickering said he wanted to keep his dealings “nice and confidential” because it was “extremely sensitive”. The disclosure throws fresh light on the way in which the greyhound racing industry treats both retired dogs and those that fail to make the grade.

The Sunday Times disclosed in March that the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) was buying canine body parts from John O’Connor, a vet whose clinic was willing to euthanase healthy greyhounds, no questions asked.

An undercover reporter approached Pickering after hearing he was quietly sending young dogs to be put down at Liverpool University.

Pickering, a former pig farmer, breeds about 200 racing dogs a year at his Zigzag Kennels. Its website says: “We make the welfare of all our stock our highest priority.”

The reporter told Pickering that he was from another university and was interested in procuring surplus dogs for research. Pickering, 56, who is based at Dunholme in Lincolnshire, said: “We look to sell them [for racing] for a minimum of £200-£300 at 12 weeks [old].

“When they get to a year old we are hoping that we can get between £800 and £20,000 for the very fastest. But, of course, along the way we get some that aren’t quite suitable. If it’s in the interest of someone for scientific purposes or study purposes, well that’s a good thing. It’s better than just being put down and disappearing.”

Asked which of his dogs were not “suitable” for racing, he said: “We’ve got ones that simply won’t chase, they are absolutely healthy, fit as you could want, but just choose not to chase the artificial hare or are just a little bit too slow for the tracks. Or the ones that turn and fight.”

Pickering said he had been supplying up to 30 dogs a year to Liverpool University but “we could do more if required”. He later said that the dogs sent to Liverpool had either “finished racing or they are the ones that don’t make the grade” and were taken there by Fielding, who is accredited by the National Greyhound Racing Club, the sport’s governing body.

Pickering said that he could supply as many dogs as required at £30 each and could even breed them specifically to be killed. “When we are breeding, the ones that only reach the minimum standard for what we want, if we get too many of those it becomes a complication because we have to look for pet homes and all that sort of thing,” he said.

“I do give as many away for pets as we can, but these young ones, they are not used to the house environment. If they can have a use and help someone somewhere, and it gets me a tiny bit of money back, that’s all the better for me.”

Fielding, who is based in Lancashire told the reporter he had four “very healthy” dogs which he was happy to have taken away and killed immediately.

“I got shot of 10 old ones last year. Liverpool is a godsend in that respect because they are used for a good purpose.” He did not charge the university for them.

When contacted by the Sunday Times he denied taking any of Pickering’s dogs to the university and insisted the only greyhounds he took there were old and not rehomeable.

Pickering later denied ever having sent dogs for research.

Dr Eithne Comerford, who works at the university’s hospital and had arranged to take greyhounds from Fielding, told the undercover reporter that it was “not something we’re particularly mad about . . . we’re all vets”. She stressed that the dogs were “euthanased properly” and used for “multiple projects”. She said they were not paid for and the RVC scandal had caused “huge havoc”.

A spokeswoman for Liverpool University defended its activities. “Our approach to veterinary research is of the highest ethical standard. We only carry out research on tissues of dogs and cats that have died or been euthanased and with the full consent of the animal’s owner.”

Death of Greyhound Causes Groups in Tasmania to Call for a Ban to Dog Hurdle Racing

I have to admit, I hadn’t heard of such a ridiculous event. As is shown by the article below, it is extremely dangerous for the greyhounds. And this danger is really why this only goes on in the one area of Tasmania.

For more on Greyhound racing (not with hurdles) and why it’s wrong see http://www.downbound.com/Greyhound_Racing_s/427.htm


Article:

Call to ban greyhound hurdle races

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/
0,20867,21306659-5006788,00.html

By Glenn Cordingley

March 01, 2007 12:58pm
Article from: AAP

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AN animal welfare group has called for dog hurdle-racing to be banned in Tasmania after a greyhound smashed into a barrier and died on the track.

The dog slammed into the second hurdle at high speed during trials for the Hobart Greyhound Racing Club on Tuesday night.

Witnesses at the Elwick racetrack in Hobart said its back was broken and skull smashed.

"The death of this greyhound is a reminder of why greyhound hurdle racing takes place in no other state in Australia, other than Tasmania," said Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania (AACT) spokeswoman Emma Haswell.

Last August, a dog at the same track died when it careered into a rail, raising concerns over a lack of a safety fence.

Ms Haswell said greyhounds converted to hurdle racing were generally considered past their prime and have always been used to running on flat tracks.

"These gentle and graceful dogs have never seen an uneven surface let alone a jump," she said.

"On top of this, many have been trained using live baits such as possums and rabbits.

"The dog's eye is on the lure and lure only. Hurdle racing is an accident waiting to happen every time and the AACT wants it banned immediately.

The Tasmanian Greens, who described the latest death as "shocking" and "avoidable", are calling for all dog races and trials to be suspended until a safety rail is installed at the track.

A spokesman from TOTE Tasmania said it would hold its own investigation into the incident.
Hobart Greyhound Racing Club chair Denise Fish said she was not considering a ban on greyhound hurdle racing.

"The chief steward is holding an investigation which is normal procedure. We are not considering a ban and will wait and see what comes out of the inquiry," she said.

"This was a racing accident, nothing more than that. A dog has clipped a hurdle and fell.

"It's just one of those unfortunate things. Like any other fall, you may or may not hurt yourself. You never want to see an animal get hurt but it happens."