When Greyhounds don't win

fits

Carb wrote:

To stretch his comment to say that he's condeming farmers is just nonsense.

Based on some of his previous posts, I'd imagine that he was condemning farmers. I'm getting tired of the 'all farmers treat their animals like poo' argument, and I hear so much of it.

For the record, I grew up on a farm, I learned everything I know about nature and wildlife from my dad, the cruel farmer. My dad the cruel farmer has reported genuinely cruel (or just plain ignorant) farmers for mistreatment of their animals... And I own a rescued lurcher!

Carb

fits wrote:

Based on some of his previous posts, I'd imagine that he was condemning farmers. I'm getting tired of the 'all farmers treat their animals like poo' argument, and I hear so much of it.

I can't say I've read all his posts, including any on farming. I know from other forums that farmers wouldn't be his favoured group based on taxes/subsidies etc, but I haven't seen any based on animal cruelty. Its possible that he could come back and say I'm wrong, but I'd imagine that in the context of this thread, and the post that he made, he was referring to dog breeding/grehounds etc.

fits

junkyard wrote:

I don't have much time for anyone who relies on animals to make their living tbh.

Maybe you're right Carb, but it was a pretty general statement. Anyway this is gone way off topic, mostly my fault...

I know little about greyhound racing... I just dont understand how anyone who handles these animals daily doesnt get attached to them. I dont understand how they are disposed of in the way they are... Is it that I've heard only bad press about the industry and there are lots of good eggs out there who treat their dogs well... I just dont get it!

I'd love to bring my fella to races like they have in Sweden... he'd absolutely love it.

peasant

Fits

Maybe look at it this way ...someone who loves animals and treats them properly can still be a successful and economically viable farmer ...but never a successful and economically viable participant in the greyhound racing "industry".

fits

peasant wrote:

Fits

Maybe look at it this way ...someone who loves animals and treats them properly can still be a successful and economically viable farmer ...but never a successful and economically viable participant in the greyhound racing "industry".

Why? Because pumping them up with steroids is necessary for them to win??? Why cant you treat these dogs properly and still win races?
And aren't a lot of greyhound trainers part-timer hobby people?

peasant

The economically viable bit is the crucial one...

If you don't want to throw away large sums of money year after year just to see some of your dogs running, but want to actually make some money ...then you need a large proportion of winners.

In order to get those in large proportions you will a) need to enhance the performance of your good dogs (legally or otherwise) and b) dispose of costly non-winners quickly (in varying degrees of cruelty).

I would have no problem whatsoever with some greyhound owners organizing races just for fun.

But as soon as the whole thing get's turned into a "business", the animals rights fall by the wayside.

fits

peasant wrote:

But as soon as the whole thing get's turned into a "business", the animals rights fall by the wayside.

But it shouldnt have to... Just as it shouldnt have to in farming or horse racing. You'd be pretty stupid not to acknowledge that mistreatment goes on in all three of these enterprises.. and it would seem particularly so in greyhound racing but it certainly cant be everyone involved can it? This is why I'm slow to subscribe to the idea that banning it is the only solution.

Another thing, and I know I'm going to be absolutely rounded on for this.. but I'd personally rather see greyhounds being humanely euthanized than sold to spain. Most of all I'd like people here to get over what ever it is they have against greyhounds.

peasant

This is why I'm slow to subscribe to the idea that banning it is the only solution.

It would be the easiest, quickest and cleanest solution.

Ban all greyhound racing for profit ...i.e no price money, no bets.

All that would be left would be a few real enthusiasts running their dogs for fun ...and anyone who would want to watch could do so.

I doubt that many specators would turn up, though. After all, without betting a greyhound race is a fairly boring "spectacle".

EGAR

Greyhounds killed for losing races
Daniel Foggo

Death was price of poor results


TWO greyhounds whose deaths are at the centre of a scandal that has engulfed the dog-racing industry were shot because they had performed poorly a few days earlier.
The dogs, whose names are now known to be Clash Nitro and Rent a Flyer, were pictured by an undercover photographer for The Sunday Times being led to their deaths by David Smith, the industry’s unofficial “executioner”. He is said to have killed up to 10,000 greyhounds over 15 years.



Smith was photographed just moments later pushing the greyhounds’ bodies in a wheelbarrow to bury them behind his house. Both dogs were less than three years old when they were killed this month.

It has now been established that the dogs were considered worthless by their owners, Gillian Young, a licensed trainer, and her husband Graeme, assistant racing manager at Pelaw Grange greyhound track in Co Durham.

Each dog had won races earlier this year but after they under-performed at a meeting three weeks ago the Youngs decided they did not want to continue racing them. The couple were told by a rehoming charity three days later that they would have to wait about a week before the greyhounds could be taken.

Instead, the next morning Clash Nitro and Rent a Flyer were taken to be shot in the head by Smith, a builders’ merchant from Seaham, Co Durham.

Their deaths were the subject of an exposé two weeks ago by The Sunday Times which showed how trainers were resorting to the mass slaughter of greyhounds no longer considered fast enough to race.

The revelations have shaken the greyhound industry and led to a government inquiry. Last week there were fresh calls for the animal welfare bill before parliament to be amended to subject trainers and owners to external regulation.

The Sunday Times secretly filmed the dogs being taken by Gillian Young and her father Sid Fenwick, also a licensed trainer, to be put down by Smith, who was then shown burying them in his back garden with a mechanical digger.

He told an undercover reporter it took him three years to fill the one-acre plot with bodies.

At the time the identities of Fenwick, the Youngs and the names of both dogs were unknown. Last week, however, the trainers’ details emerged and both Fenwick and Gillian Young were suspended by the National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC), the sport’s governing body, pending an inquiry that could see them banned.

Fenwick claimed he had been given the dogs by an unnamed man and did not know their identities, but their full histories have now been established.

Each illustrates how greyhounds are exploited to provide cheap entertainment and betting fodder before commonly being killed once their usefulness has ended.

For Clash Nitro, a male brindle, life began on November 1 2003 in Ireland. His potential was apparent early on. In his first race at Youghal stadium in Co Cork on July 5, 2005, Clash Nitro came second. Several more races followed, culminating in another second at Newbridge, Co Kildare, on December 3 that year.

Less than three weeks later Clash Nitro made the trip to Britain after being sold to Graeme Young. Young knew a good prospect when he saw one. He is the breeder of Laser Beam, a champion that is one of the top racers in Britain.