STOPPING THEM IN THEIR TRACKS updated: 07/01/10

Since Greyhound Action's campaign began in 1997, more than 20 UK greyhound tracks have been forced
to close and we have been instrumental in preventing over a dozen proposed ones from opening.

Since 1994, the following "official" (NGRC) greyhound tracks have closed, mostly for financial reasons:
Since 1985, the following independent ("flapping") tracks have closed:

Bolton, Bristol, Catford, Canterbury, Cradley Heath, Coventry, Hull, Dundee, Glastonbury, Hackney, Middlesbrough, Newton Abbot, Powderhall (Edinburgh), Ramsgate, Reading, Swaffham, Wembley and Walthamstow

Abbey Moor (Glastonbury), Aldershot, Ashington, Barnsley, Barrow, Berwick, Bideford, Bolton, Carfin, Chasewater, Chester, Chesterfield, Chesterton, Clacton, Cleethorpes, Coatbridge, Deeside, Doncaster, Falkirk, Hawick, Huntingdon, Preston, Rye House, Skegness, Skewen, St.Helens, Stanley, Swansea, Wisbech, Workington.

Also the last official track in Spain ( Meridiana near Barcelona) closed in 2006 and in the USA eleven tracks have closed or stopped live racing since 2004

 In the USA 16 dog tracks have ended live racing since 2004 and 10 states have made it illegal since 1993.

Further proof greyhound racing is on the way out

Attendances nationally at greyhound races fell by 4.4% in 2005
"2006 has been even more of a struggle"
source: British Greyhound Racing Board

Attendances at greyhound racing have fallen 80% since 1961 and it's lost half a million in the last five year (thats 13%)

Attendances totaled 25.2 million in 1948, 12.8 million in 1962 and just 3.3 million in 2006.

There was a 15 % fall in the number of greyhounds registered in 2006.
This was more than double the fall in the previous year.
source: National Greyhound Racing Club
(GA note: at this rate of decline the industry will be finished in 7 years... fingers crossed :-)

In 2007 there was a 13% reduction in the breeding of greyhounds resulting in an estimated 5000 less greyhound being killed

Attendances crash at NGRC tracks during April 2007 (apparently the May figures are worse)

Perry Barr - 33%, Wimbledon - 28%, Hall Green – 20%, Belle Vue – 17%, Hove – 16%, Monmore – 10%, Oxford – 15%, Peterborough – 12%, Portsmouth – 10%, Romford – 11%, Walthamstow – 10%.
 Source Greyhound Star July 2007

How safe is your track? ... an insider guide to the sustainability of many tracks in the UK ... click here
Various Quotes from Greyhound Forums and newspaper interviews:


"In Leicestershire, we had Leicester stadium, Melton, Syston, Coalville and me. There's me left, that's all," he sighs as the minutes build up to the first race at 7.30pm." click here for the full story

"...in recent times we have lost Wembley, White City, Harringay, Slough,etc etc.....there will be more closures in the future, of that I have no doubt......... there are tracks that look for all the world as if they are
being run down, in readiness for closure - Catford and Portsmouth come instantly to mind, but I am sure there are others........." (GA note: Catford has now closed)

".........there will always be closures, the list of tracks lost to the sport over the years is a mile long......at present the greyhound industry as a whole in the UK is in serious decline, if things don't change soon there will DEFINiTELY be closures....."

"...........the industry in the UK is in very serious decline, many of our big owners don't even race their dogs here any more, and that list is growing almost daily. A top trainer last week announced he is leaving the sport as despite a kennel of 45 dogs, and two category one wins, he can't make it pay, he isn't the first and he won't be the last. My favourite track is empty every Tuesday evening, and you can hear a pin drop."

 

An easy way to keep the pressure on

Below is an example of many letters and messages we have received from people who have successfully persuaded work colleagues etc. not to attend greyhound racing.

We cannot over-emphasise the importance of this. In order to keep going, the greyhound racing industry is increasingly relying on revenue from ordinary people who go to the races as part of works outings etc. If we can persuade them to go somewhere else instead, this will seriously damage the industry and tracks will start to close.

"I telephoned you last year to ask for some leaflets which you duly sent, because my work was organising a Christmas meal at the Greyhound Stadium in Perry Barr. Thanks to your leaflets + me making a 'song + a dance' about it IT WAS CANCELLED! RESULT! A couple of people refused to read the leaflets (much like a smoker won't read Government Health Warrnings - eh?!) but the majority did + dropped out. Then a programme was aired - and that was the 'nail in the coffin' because it showed graphic scenes of buried dogs.* The next day a colleague who insisted she liked going and it was 'harmless' to the dogs, told me she would never, ever go again! Finally, I still have a few leaflets left + I will be sending them out to all the companies that I pay my bills to (Gas, Electric, Credit Card etc etc) because they too, just like my workplace, may be looking to go and have a 'good night out at the dogs....'

Susan, Birmingham, 10th Feb 2002

*This was the Kenyon Confronts investigation into greyhound racing, screened in December 2001.

For more ways to help our campaign click here to go to the HELP US section.