Story
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
I made this page as I feel very passionately about the subject of greyhounds. I myself support greyhound racing, but there's a much darker side to the whole industry.Did you know:
Tens
of thousands of dogs are disposed of every year by the British greyhound
racing industry - because they fail to make the grade as racers
or when their racing days are over.
About 25,000 greyhound pups are registered every year in the British
Isles. The number bred is actually many thousands more than this,when
taking into account pups that never get registered and those killed
by breeders at a very young age.
Although most of these dogs are bred in Ireland, the majority are
produced to supply the demands of the British greyhound racing industry.
Thousands of greyhound pups and young dogs are put to death because
they fail to reach racing standards. We estimate that over 10,000
are killed annually in the British Isles.
Dogs which actually make it to the track are very likely to experience
suffering during their racing careers. It has been estimated that
greyhounds running on British tracks sustain more than 12,000 injuries
every year and that 10% of dogs that race are already suffering
from injuries. Injured toes, torn muscles, strained tendons and
arthritic joints are commonplace.
At least 10,000 greyhounds “retire” from racing in Britain
every year, at an average age of just 2½ years old. This
is either because of injury or because they are adjudged to be no
longer good enough to race.
Very few of these dogs manage to find good homes. This is hardly
surprising, given a situation where many thousands of ordinary dogs
are put to sleep every year because no homes are available for them.
The British greyhound racing industry has admitted that 500 - 1,000
retired greyhounds are put to death every year. This alone would
be enough to justify a ban on greyhound racing, but the true figure
for retired dogs killed is, sadly, far, far higher. Quite possibly
as many as 6,000.
Many
ex-racing greyhounds are simply abandoned and a large number are
killed, sometimes by extremely cruel methods such as drowning or
poisoning, because some owners and trainers are not prepared to
pay the cost of having them put to sleep by a vet.
We are receiving an increasing number of reports of trainers shooting dogs when their racing days are over.
However the news is not always bad, there are many different charities that help rehome these dogs to people who will love and care for them for years to come. I have set this page up and hope to receive donations so their work can carry on.
