Original info (contact details and sample letter follow):

Greyhound racing has great potential, says Jamaican MP

Published on Saturday, June 7, 2008

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS): A Member of the Jamaican Parliament, Dr St Aubyn Bartlett, has said that greyhound racing has great potential for creating more jobs in Jamaica than the nation's horse racing industry.

Bartlett, who is also close to the racing industry as a veterinarian, was making his contribution to the 2008/09 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

He noted that greyhound racing was an evening and night event, with two race meets per day totalling 24 or more races in one day.

"This is an attraction which can provide the needed nightly industry entertainment for our tourism industry," Bartlett said.

He also informed that several potential investors and stakeholders were at the "starting gates rearing to chase the hare."

"Currently, there are no greyhounds in Jamaica, meaning a new industry will be created starting with the importation of breeding stock, the establishment of breeding kennels and training facilities and the building of stadia," Bartlett said.

The Member of Parliament also informed that he has been meeting with potential investors, both locally and overseas.

"I have asked the Minister in charge of animal sports industry for a meeting with these stakeholders at a time convenient to him. This is an investment opportunity that Jamaica cannot afford to miss," Bartlett emphasised.

Contact details:

No email address has been provided so please make sure you use the right postage stamp for the UK if you are posting from abroad.

Letters to:

Jamaican High Commission
1-2 Prince Consort Road,
London
SW7 2BZ

Tel: 020 7823 9911
Fax: 020 7589 5154

As usual you can find information about the greyhound industry in these places...

http://www.greyhoundaction.org.uk and http://www.greyhoundaction.org.uk/facts7.html and http://www.greyhoundaction.org.uk/facts.html and http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3466712.ece )

Please feel free to consult, quote and refer people to them or you might like to use this sample letter as a model.

Sample letter:

I am writing to you regarding the potential start of greyhound racing in Jamaica. Throughout the world wherever greyhounds are raced, thousands of greyhounds that are surplus to requirements are being abandoned and slaughtered. Abusing animals in the name of entertainment is NOT a tourist attraction and it will inevitably have a negative effect on your tourist trade.

The greyhound racing industry has been in decline for many years especially in the USA where the industry has had massive financial losses. This is for several reasons, the first being that it has been recognised as a cruel sport and banned in many states in the USA and even more recently it has been abolished in South Africa. Even in the UK and Ireland (the birthplace of greyhound racing) attendances are falling and stadiums are closing. Greyhound racing has become widely condemned in the UK as a result of the constant exposure in the media of the cruelty and deaths suffered by greyhounds in the racing industry.

Finally greyhound racing attracts and is associated with the criminal underworld and the use of illegal drugs as recently exposed in a documentary by the BBC.

I urge you to reconsider and keep greyhound racing out of Jamaica. I will not be visiting Jamaica if greyhound racing begins there and will actively encourage others to boycott the country too.

Yours sincerely