RTE Investigates programme on greyhound racing industry

ILoveYourVibes

Bannasidhe wrote: »

On that we agree!
They are sofa hogging, counter surfing, lazy, affectionate, gentle dogs prone to the occasional zoomies.

No - I don't personally have a greyhound but I know loads of them. I have jack russells aka Yap monster mucksavages.

Awh! We have a dachshund.

Ok i will just post this little guy and then I will stop.

strandroad

Deleted User wrote: »

https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/animalhealthwelfare/animalwelfare/exgratiafunding/Listof2018awardsToWelfareOrgs020119.pdf

€2.75 million isn’t to be sniffed at!

Between 108 rescues that's 25k a year on average. One admin person's job. But if you look at the list a couple of larger ones are hoovering 5-6 figures, when the rest get a few k at most, you can treat and rehome a few dogs for that and that's it.

But sure let's treat IGB to 16 mln to create jobs. We could be creating proper jobs in rescue instead, all we have is council wardens in pounds and overworked stressed and frustrated volunteer rescuers with PTSD after the cruelty they witness.

ILoveYourVibes

It would be really cool if people with greyhounds as pets could do to a protest bringing their dogs.

strandroad

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

It would be really cool if people with greyhounds as pets could do to a protest bringing their dogs.

Not sure about it, protesters are often abused, it can be very frightening for a gentle dog.

ILoveYourVibes

strandroad wrote: »

Not sure about it, protesters are often abused, it can be very frightening for a gentle dog.

Ah i forgot about that.

Best not then.

Bring cute puppy pics though.

It's a deadly weapon. And turns most bad attitudes around.

strandroad

The Greens are taking action. How can we support them?
Please contact your TDs.

https://www.greenparty.ie/take-money-from-greyhound-racing-and-give-it-to-animal-welfare-and-environmental-groups-greens/

Following the RTÉ Investigates programme, the Green Party are calling for taxpayers’ money to be redirected away from greyhound racing to animal welfare and environmental groups.

The Greens are also calling for an immediate suspension of State funding to the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) as it is clear the organisation is incapable of managing the rogue element in the industry.

Bannasidhe

strandroad wrote: »

Between 108 rescues that's 25k a year on average. One admin person's job. But if you look at the list a couple of larger ones are hoovering 5-6 figures, when the rest get a few k at most, you can treat and rehome a few dogs for that and that's it.

But sure let's treat IGB to 16 mln to create jobs. We could be creating proper jobs in rescue instead, all we have is council wardens in pounds and overworked stressed and frustrated volunteer rescuers with PTSD after the cruelty they witness.

Many rescues also have an issue with this clause in the T&C attached to DAFM funding:

have a policy which clearly states the maximum period of time for which they will hold an animal. The policy should also state in what circumstances an animal may be deemed unsuitable for re-homing. It must also establish a time frame after which animals unsuitable for re-homing or animals that are held outside this maximum period will be humanly disposed of

https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/animalhealthwelfare/animalwelfare/fundingtoanimalwelfareorganisations/

Given the trauma some dogs have suffered it is impossible to state how long it will take them to recover enough mentally to be rehomed - some never do. The rescues that are lucky enough to have land/sanctuaries know this and those dogs are able to live out their lives as 'long-termers' - DAFM wants them 'disposed of' which flies in the face of being a no-kill rescue.

For this reason many rescues won't even apply for the pittance DAFM might throw their way.

PhuckHugh22

Just to add some views from the other side of the argument. I dont particularly enjoy greyhound racing but i certainly have no problem with it.

Denis here is a very well respected Vet in the industry and added some opposition to the sensationalist views in that show last night.
https://twitter.com/carvillshill/status/1144016715363340289


Also i am not really sure what the people partaking in "Illegal Coursing" have to do with the opposition. These people should be prosecuted appropriately. You might as well be saying Jimmy from down the road is driving around over the limit with no tax or insurance lets ban everyone from driving.

ednwireland

why is anyone shocked by this its been going on for years, its pretty much out in the open i thought, i doubt it took much investigating.

just write to your TD's saying you want the funding stopped rathar than faux outrage on an internet forum

Bannasidhe

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

It would be really cool if people with greyhounds as pets could do to a protest bringing their dogs.

They do!
Other breeds welcome too.

angel eyes 2012

Straffan1979 wrote: »

Dogs are a food animal in China/Korea/Vietnam - and treated as such ( often at standards far below the standards for agricultural livestock in EU)-it had no place in this TV programme ;

was there any evidence that the Greyhounds at that meat market had any connection to Irish racing- NO;
And what’s the whole country talking about today? Irish Greyhounds being boiled alive out in China - and that’s fair balanced broadcasting from RTE?

BROADCASTING ACT-
Section 42 of the Act provides that:
(1) The Authority shall prepare, and from time to time as occasion requires, revise, in accordance with this section, a code or codes governing standards and practice (“broadcasting code”) to be observed by broadcasters.
(2) Broadcasting codes shall provide –
(a) that all news broadcast by a broadcaster is reported and presented in an objective and impartial manner and without any expression of the broadcaster’s own views,
(b) that the broadcast treatment of current affairs, including matters which are either of public controversy or the subject of current public debate, is fair to all interests concerned and that the broadcast matter is presented in an objective and impartial manner and without any expression of the broadcaster’s own views,
(e) that a broadcaster does not, in the allocation of time for transmitting party political broadcasts, give an unfair preference to any political party.

RTE have crossed the line here legally IMO- abuse of power in their position as the State Broadcaster.

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2018-03-20/727/

If there is evidence that even one abandoned dog from Ireland ended up in China, then RTE are well within their rights to expose the practice; at the very least it is entirely in the public interest that the Licence Fee payer is informed of the complete absence of any Animal Welfare regulations or safeguards in China and, if required, shown footage of the horrific practices that goes on. It is even more important to highlight animal abuse as these poor creatures cannot stick up for themselves and rely on us to protect them.

Personally, I don't like horseracing and I don't necessarily agree with RTE broadcasting it, however RTE don't show clips of how abandoned racehorses may be mistreated after any horseracing programme or show a horse in agony after falling, in order to comply with Section 42 of the Act, but by your rationale they should be.

RTE should be applauded for their efforts and well done to any of the people involved in the production who may be reading this thread.

angel eyes 2012

angel eyes 2012 wrote: »

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2018-03-20/727/

If there is evidence that even one abandoned dog from Ireland ended up in China, then RTE are well within their rights to expose the practice; at the very least it is entirely in the public interest that the Licence Fee payer is informed of the complete absence of any Animal Welfare regulations or safeguards in China and, if required, shown footage of the horrific practices that goes on. It is even more important to highlight animal abuse as these poor creatures cannot stick up for themselves and rely on us to protect them.

Personally, I don't like horseracing and I don't necessarily agree with RTE broadcasting it, however RTE don't show clips of how abandoned racehorses may be mistreated after any horseracing programme or show a horse in agony after falling, in order to comply with Section 42 of the Act, but by your rationale they should be.

RTE should be applauded for their efforts and well done to any of the people involved in the production who may be reading this thread.

If a greyhound is abandoned, how did it make its way to China? Especially as it’s illegal to transport them there?

Doctors room ghost

xckjoo wrote: »

GSPCA is constantly full of greyhound and lurcher puppies. They have rehoming strategies that usually means they end up in other European countries that care more for sighthounds.

There’s a lot of them rehomed in england and France

klaaaz

The public feel portrayed by the propaganda from the greyhound industry with their photoshoots of the tiny number of retired greyhounds living gracefully in retirement yet were not told about 6,000 being slaughtered every year for being too slow at running. It's just horrendous that many people did not know this, RTE did a service showing the truth that many of the greyhound owners have no empathy for their dogs.

That poor dog on its hind legs being dragged into the knackery to be shot in the head then wriggling in agony on the ground then to be shot again, it's body then dumped into an overflowing skip of greyhound carcasses is disgusting viewing. That is one thing that happened here in Ireland caught on camera.

Bannasidhe

Deleted User wrote: »

If a greyhound is abandoned, how did it make its way to China? Especially as it’s illegal to transport them there?

The question that you should be asking is how did any Irish registered greyhound end up in China.
It's a proven fact they did.
It's is not, as far as I know, technically illegal.

https://www.ispca.ie/news/detail/transport_of_irish_greyhounds_to_hong_kong_macau_by_lufthansa

2016 3 Irish registered greyhounds exported.

THREE Irish greyhounds have been exported to race in China, despite the Department of Agriculture previously blocking plans by the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) to send dogs to the country over animal welfare concerns.


The three greyhounds arrived in Hong Kong on March 16 and were transported to Macau, home to China’s only legal dog track, the Yat Yuen Canidrome. According to eyewitnesses familiar with Irish greyhound ear-markings, the names of the dogs raced at the Canidrome matched those of animals registered with the IGB, also known as Bord na gCon.

These are the first Irish dogs to race at the Macau Canidrome and may be part of a trial to determine whether Ireland can fill a supply vacuum, according to Albano Martins, president of the Society for the Protection of Animals (Macau), also known as Anima. Last December, the Australian carrier Qantas begun refusing to transport greyhounds to Asia.

“The track is old and narrow, and the length of the track is not good for the animals, so many accidents happen,” said Martins, who operates a rescue centre. “They kill the dogs and need more to replace them. Dogs cannot come from China as they must be in quarantine for rabies, and this must be done in the municipal kennel, which is impossible because of its lack of space.”
Anima tracks each greyhound death at the Canidrome. Last year, it claimed, young and healthy dogs were being killed at a rate of 30 a month. Dogs are destroyed if they are ill, injured or fail to place in the top three in five consecutive races.

Australia had been the main supplier of greyhounds to the dog track. Qantas agreed to halt transport of the animals to Hong Kong after ABC, Australia’s public broadcaster, showed footage of dogs being put down in Macau.

The photos, names, lineage and racing performance of the three Irish dogs are listed on Canidrome’s website. Two of the dogs, Crossfield Leona and Crossfield Simon, are listed on the IGB website as having been owned by Brendan O’Shea, a trainer from Millstreet, Co Cork. The third Irish dog is Two Stone Tadgh, which the IGB site records as having been owned by Jason Lehane in Co Cork. The dog was raced at Curraheen Park in Cork on December 17, finishing fifth.

Lehane declined to confirm whether he sold the dog, or knew it was being shipped to Macau. “I’ve kept dogs all my life and I only have their best interests at heart,” he said.
O’Shea declined to comment. It is understood he sold the two dogs to an agent.
While gambling is illegal in the rest of China, it has been permitted in Macau since it was handed back to China in 1999 as a special administrative region. Gambling remains Macau’s biggest source of revenue. Irish dogs, along with those from Australia and America, are considered among the best in the world for both racing and breeding purposes.

IGB, a commercial semi-state body, sought permission to begin sending racing dogs to China in 2011. The Department of Agriculture blocked the move following lobbying by animal-welfare groups, with support from the RTE newsreader Sharon Ní Bheoláin. The department decided there was insufficient assurance “that adequate provision would be made to safeguard the health and welfare of greyhounds in China at the end of their racing life”. However, this weekend the department pointed out that there was “no ban on the export of greyhounds to China”.

Almost 51,000 people worldwide have signed an online petition on change.org calling on taoiseach Enda Kenny and Simon Coveney, the agriculture minister, to enforce an anti-export policy. The petition was started by Grey2K USA Worldwide, the world’s largest greyhound protection organisation. Christine Dorchak, its president, said: “Every dog sent to the Canidrome will die there. And it seems especially cruel to take a dog raced in one country and send it to another just to make a few more dollars.”
An IGB spokeswoman said that, while there is no legal ban on the export of greyhounds to China, it has begun to “make inquiries overseas” into the latest development. “We are extremely proactive in enforcing disciplinary action against any parties who are in breach of greyhound welfare legislation and continuously investigate all matters brought to our attention,” it said.
Mark Beazley, executive director of Dogs Trust Ireland, said he raised the issue of potential greyhound exports to China with the IGB. “If an individual wanted to export greyhounds in accordance with appropriate international regulations, there is little the IGB could do to stop them,” he said. “We pointed out IGB should write to owners and trainers and say it is not supportive of this practice.
“Ireland has seen huge improvements in animal welfare in recent years and we believe the export of greyhounds to China would be a retrograde step and bad for our reputation.”

https://www.facebook.com/greyt.exploitations/posts/1005900282796470?__xts__

Shows how toothless the IGB is in looking after the welfare of greyhounds imho.

seamus

PhuckHugh22 wrote: »

Also i am not really sure what the people partaking in "Illegal Coursing" have to do with the opposition. These people should be prosecuted appropriately. You might as well be saying Jimmy from down the road is driving around over the limit with no tax or insurance lets ban everyone from driving.

It's not just a few bad eggs though. It's endemic in the greyhound industry. Very few, if any, breeders and trainers operate ethically and care for ALL of their animals appropriately.

A more accurate analogy would be "everyone is drinking and driving, so lets ban driving".

The obvious argument is to bring in stricter controls and regulations. But the problem is that greyhound racing is already a dead duck. It provides no income to the state and cannot survive without massive state subvention.

Tighter animal welfare laws (read: in line with EU norms) and the removal of state subvention would be a de facto ban on Greyhound racing.

As an addendum, someone being a respected vet actually means nothing in terms of animal welfare. The same ethical restrictions that exist for doctors, don't exist for vets. Many vets are quite cruel and inhumane individuals with scant regard for the suffering of animals or the right thing to do. If someone presents an animal at surgery to be euthanised, most vets will do it without hesitation; €€€€.

The vets who give a **** are few and far between in my experience.

ILoveYourVibes

Doctors room ghost wrote: »

There’s a lot of them rehomed in england and France

They need an image make over here.

angel eyes 2012

Deleted User wrote: »

If a greyhound is abandoned, how did it make its way to China? Especially as it’s illegal to transport them there?

Good question, one which the IGB should answer. They released a statement today strongly condemning the practices outlined during the broadcast of RTE Prime Time Investigates and notably did not raise any issues with showing the segment on greyhounds ending up in China.

According to their website; “The IGB’s Strategic Plan 2018-2022 continues to target the ultimate aim of total rehoming of retired racing greyhounds.” In other words, some work done a lot more to do in relation to the destiny of retired racing greyhounds and no reference to the welfare of greyhounds that never get to race because they are too slow.

klaaaz

klaaaz wrote: »

The public feel portrayed by the propaganda from the greyhound industry with their photoshoots of the tiny number of retired greyhounds living gracefully in retirement yet were not told about 6,000 being slaughtered every year for being too slow at running. It's just horrendous that many people did not know this, RTE did a service showing the truth that many of the greyhound owners have no empathy for their dogs.

That poor dog on its hind legs being dragged into the knackery to be shot in the head then wriggling in agony on the ground then to be shot again, it's body then dumped into an overflowing skip of greyhound carcasses is disgusting viewing. That is one thing that happened here in Ireland caught on camera.

6,000 weren’t slaughtered. UP to 6,000 aren’t accounted for from age 3 months. Many of these would have been bred in Ireland for uk owners and go to their owners without being named.

Doctors room ghost

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

They need an image make over here.

The dogs are fine.
It’s the gob****es of Ireland that needs adjustment

strandroad

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

They need an image make over here.

No they need to be released for rehoming in the first place. It costs 50 quid or similar to surrender a dog to a pound, rescues ask for contributions too. It costs a tenner to shoot them instead, and you even get the collar back. Do your math.

MarinersBlues

seamus wrote: »

It's not just a few bad eggs though. It's endemic in the greyhound industry. Very few, if any, breeders and trainers operate ethically and care for ALL of their animals appropriately.

A more accurate analogy would be "everyone is drinking and driving, so lets ban driving".

Broad sweeping generalisation.
Insulting to those of us who did our best for our animals.
Back it up with facts or re-frame your arguement.

Bannasidhe

Deleted User wrote: »

6,000 weren’t slaughtered. UP to 6,000 aren’t accounted for from age 3 months. Many of these would have been bred in Ireland for uk owners and go to their owners without being named.

IGB says all greyhound pups should be microchipped by 12 weeks old

On 27 February 2015 the Government published regulations for the microchipping of dogs. These regulations apply to all dogs. The time table for the implementation of microchipping is:

• Pups – born after 1st June 2015 must be microchipped upon reaching age of 12 weeks.

https://www.igb.ie/About-IGB/news/microchipping-legislation-2015/

Why are they 'unaccounted for'? They should have been microchipped at 12 weeks old so where are they?

MarinersBlues

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Why are they 'unaccounted for'? They should have been microchipped at 12 weeks old so where are they?

They would be registered in England or not registered to run at all.

Bannasidhe

Bannasidhe wrote: »

IGB says all greyhound pups should be microchipped by 12 weeks old

https://www.igb.ie/About-IGB/news/microchipping-legislation-2015/

Why are they 'unaccounted for'? They should have been microchipped at 12 weeks old so where are they?

They were. But what isn’t known is how many died of natural causes or were exported before being named.

xckjoo

strandroad wrote: »

No they need to be released for rehoming in the first place. It costs 50 quid or similar to surrender a dog to a pound, rescues ask for contributions too. It costs a tenner to shoot them instead, and you even get the collar back. Do your math.

Dunno about the pound but no rescue place worth its salt will want you to contribute before they accepting a dog. The belief that they will causes so many dogs being dumped in bogs, at the side of the road, etc. when they could just be dropped off at the centre or possibly even collected. Any rescue centre I know of will move heaven and earth to get an unwanted dog under their roof. They don't care about money beyond keeping the bills paid.

If you can't or don't want to contribute financially, just tell them. They'll still take the dog.

P.S not having a go at you strandroad. Just thought the point needs to be made.

Bannasidhe

MarinersBlues wrote: »

They would be registered in England or not registered to run at all.

It doesn't say "registered to race" - It says "microchipped" as all pups are meant to be. If they are microchipped their whereabouts can be accounted for - including if they are in the UK.

xckjoo

Deleted User wrote: »

They were. But what isn’t known is how many died of natural causes or were exported before being named.

That's very easy to track if they wanted to. If they had bothered they could now counter the 6k figure instead of trying to muddy the waters with hypotheticals.

Bannasidhe

Deleted User wrote: »

They were. But what isn’t known is how many died of natural causes or were exported before being named.

You are really scrabbling to find excuses aren't you.

6,000 microchipped dogs dying of 'natural causes'?? Do me a favour.

Or being exported in which case they would need documentation - passports etc so how can they be 'unaccounted' for?

strandroad

xckjoo wrote: »

Dunno about the pound but no rescue place worth its salt will want you to contribute before they accepting a dog. The belief that they will causes so many dogs being dumped in bogs, at the side of the road, etc. when they could just be dropped off at the centre or possibly even collected. Any rescue centre I know of will move heaven and earth to get an unwanted dog under their roof. They don't care about money beyond keeping the bills paid.

If you can't or don't want to contribute financially, just tell them. They'll still take the dog.

P.S not having a go at you strandroad. Just thought the point needs to be made.

Sure, I'm sure it differs from one rescue to another. Some reached an agreement of sorts with some smaller greyhound owners who retire their dogs to them and contribute (something to be welcomed). Some take any dogs at all but the risk is that unscrupulous owners can mass dump dogs then and swamp the rescue beyond their capacity.