Greyhound Racing is dying as tracks cannot fill races.
national |
animal rights |
news report 
Tuesday August 28, 2012 18:13
by Bernie Wright - Alliance for Animal Rights
bigbrownrat at gmail dot com
po box 4734. D1.
0872651720
Greyhound racing's lack of entries results in appeal for dogs to fill races.
This month we gladly announce a decline in Greyhound Racing.
Straight from the pages of the infamous online forum ‘Greyhound nuts’ an urgent appeal has gone out for entries to fill races.
There were calls for help last week from both Curraheen Park and Limerick Track as the respective Racing Offices bid to fill the following weekend’s competitions.
Surprisingly, the valuable €5,000 to the winner Greyhound & Petworld A1 (Bg) 525 has failed to fill, even though it was only advertised for 36 runners. It seems ridiculous that such a valuable event should fail to attract what would appear to be a very reasonable number of greyhounds. The closing deadline was put back to Wednesday morning at 10 am. Entries are also invited for a number of stakes to be run in conjunction with the Greyhound & Petworld Stake.
The appeal from Tom Brett said ‘ Two-run competitions with €1,000 to the winner are not to be sneezed at and surely there must be plenty of the required dogs out there. So, come on quickly and contact Limerick Track before noon today’ Mr Brett runs Greyhound Nuts..
Another racing enthusiast Billybob said ‘Maybe fellas are sick of making up the numbers for the bigger kennels to win these graded stakes in 28,40 and the like’. A lot of hostility towards the bigger trainers is evident.
Frankie answered ‘That's right. I used to enter my dogs into stakes, even though if I was honest I didn't think they could probably win it. But with the cost of diesel and entry fees I sure aint doing that any more. If you have an A1 dog there's no way it could win an A1 stake - always a backgraded open dog will win it.Any graded stake will need a sub 29 sec dog to win it’ The decline was further compounded by Mr Brett ‘A lot of people it would seem were not willing to wait for the once in a blue moon occurrence......on the plus side the price of dogs must rise to the not too distant future with breeding down a lot more than expected for trackers..’
GREYHOUND RACING IS DYING…JUST LIKE THE DOGS WHO ARE USED FOR RACING.
For the dogs it cannot come soon enough…..Bernie Wright AFAR.
• Over €5m was overspent in Limerick already building the headquarters of the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) after a series of casual business deals backfired.The taxpayer-funded IGB has struggled to pay a development debt to Limerick City Council, and its accumulated loans worry the Department of Agriculture, which has responsibility for greyhounds. The IGB built up €13m in additional debt. This was to develop a Limerick track that had an annual turnover of just €261,357. Six other tracks across the country are now mortgaged
• The IGB lost more money when unwritten deals, underpinning the purchase of the Greenpark stadium site, collapsed
• A MASS GRAVE containing the remains of at least seven racing greyhounds has been uncovered in Co Limerick. The Gardai know who is responsible, however as yet no prosecution has taken place.
• Also the well- known Greyhound Industry site ‘Greyhound nuts’ boasts about children being the future punters in the racing game. They quote ‘Great idea, the kids are the future punters’. The cloth-cap brigade that are on the site are hoping to use school children to keep their ailing industry alive. We guess they will omit the fact that they [the IGB] are responsible for drugging, drowning, mutilating, burning with acid, strangling, abandoning and causing untold suffering to thousands of gentle greyhounds every year. 25,000 new dogs are born for racing every year. Very few dogs reach 2 or 3 years of age. A slow dog is a dead dog
For further Information ring Bernie Wright. 0872651720 Press Officer. AFAR
Comments (10 of 10)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10That's great news. Animals shouldn't be used for this.
Greyhound racing is a filthy business which results in nothing but suffering for the animals involved. I'm delighted to see it's in decline.It should have no place in a civilised society.
Greyhounds get a bad deal in Ireland. The abandonment of greyhounds that have "run their course" must end and exporting of greyhounds to countries that ill-treat them must cease also. Far too many of these dogs end up being battered or shot to death when their owners decide they can't perform on the track anymore. The whole industry is rotten...a chamber of horrors...and then there is hare coursing, which needs to be banned completely.
Dogs neglected or exported to Spain and hares used as live bait
I only learned about greyhound racing recently, I knew it was bad but part of me thought that it can't be that bad as British people love dogs.. But it's not so.. HLC is behind this continuing horrid practice and they must be stopped.. Please don't bet on dogs and please adopt greyhounds if you can as ex racers are shot :( All the details are here -- http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/zion-lights/its-not-mor....html
There is no such item as humane greyhound racing. Animals and gambling do not mix.
Hi i would like to say i have been around greyhound racing for many years,i have found that the trainers can be cruel,but running/racing is what they are bred for and they love it! You cant force a dog to run,i have a few retired greyhounds at home,they walk in our fields and without being forced they chase squirrels rabbits etc.I have worked for some real bad trainers that i had nearly punched.Yes some dogs do get injured,but they can do this while out in the park or home,1 of my dogs jumped over the arm of the sofa and broke his leg,and its not just greyhounds.
Hi all me again,Im sure we have all read stories of greyhounds being mistreated,beat,tortured and shot?? I have 3 close friends that are greyhound trainers and they are the most dog friendly people ive ever met,these kennels can hold up to 100 racing dogs,however these trainers and others will keep non racing dogs in kennels until the RGT or a suitable home is found for them,not take them for a one way walk in the woods.Im sure this does happen and it sickens me to think of someone doing it,but there are nice,friendly dog loving people involved in the dog racing world.I wont mention names but was introduced to a trainer the has no more than 10 dogs at any one time,so he can spend more 1 to 1 time with each dog,when he approaches the runs the dogs go mad to see him,not because he is fedding them,but because of the way he treats them,and when the dogs are finished racing he keeps them!!
My suggestion,Go to a local greyhopund track and watch the dogs come out,they are not being dragged along the sand,they walk with excitement and alot will walk wagging their tales,knowing they are going to be chasing something,the same as their ancestors pictured on ancient pyramid walls did a thousand years ago.
Dizz, there may well be "good" trainers though if they were that good they wouldnt shove their hounds to god knows where. Also racing is all the dogs know as they are trained that way but they are gentle and love home comforts, not the god awful kennels we regularly see them in and the trainers/owners are also doing a great disservice to the dogs who bring them money in by getting rid when they are too old!
Hi susie,i agree with you on the trainer side of things,they do move dogs around too much and to be honest too many trainers take too many dogs on,leading to them having to make short cuts to get them all exercised etc. I speak from personal experience!! At present i have 3 dogs that race regular,i have done my own kennel inspections on quite a few places by just dropping in unannounced,and some are worse that i thought possible.Where are the GBGB? I thought they were supposed to visit kennels of trainers ? As for the greyhounds racing because they have been reared knowing nothing different,i have had litters of pups over the years and these 10/12 week old pups are running like the clappers after leaves,birds etc its in their genes,and many of them will run in circles as they are on tracks.When i was younger and more foolish i had a lurcher pup which came from non working/docile parents,she was always chasing things from 10 weeks old and catching them right through to when she passed away..Why because it is in her genes 90% of which was greyhound.( sighthound)
The GBGB should arange to visit kennels and inspect them,but not by appointment,just turn up inspect these people as i did.I know they have put in place a limit on how many litters each bitch can have,but yes more needs to be done for the sake of the dogs,but if racing was to just stop tomorrow,i dread to think what would happen to all the dogs?? Me and my wife do rehome a few greyhounds in our local area,all funded by us,we mainly home to family,friends etc but occasionally to public,we are very strict and sit down for a good few hours chatting to these people about them and the individual dog and have no problem telling people " NO" as we dont think you are suitable!!
Forgot to add that in Ireland it is such a big thing with greyhounds as it is so easy to get a license out there! I have just been online to the IGB the application form to become a trainer is a joke!! Any nearly any numpty can become a trainer.
Regards
Darren
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