Investigators witness dog track horror

Investigators from greyhound protection group Greyhound Action witnessed an horrific incident at Hall Green greyhound track last night when a dog was carried screaming from the track after breaking his leg during a race.

John Curtis, one of the investigation team, later described the incident:

"We were feeling very concerned as two dogs had already fallen and sustained injuries in the 9.15pm race and we were told by a kennel hand that their racing days were over and they would probably be put down.

"Then the 9.35pm race began and, as the dogs rounded the last bend, there was a pile-up. 'Santa Power', the dog out of trap 6, was left screaming in agony.

"A young female kennel hand, no more than 18 years of age, ran to the dog and, after some struggling, eventually managed to pick him up. She then carried the dog, still howling and screaming, to the kennels.

"I saw nobody paying attention to the plight of this dog. The pile-up happened in front of the grandstand, but as he was carried away in agony, all eyes were on the TV screens showing the replay of the race and no concerned owners or trainers had gone to the kennels to find out how bad the injury was.

"Two of us ran to see the poor creature being carried into the kennels. His front left leg was completely broken - the lower half of the leg was dangling. We stayed around the kennels to find out what would happen next. Everybody else seemed oblivious to what they had just witnessed - for them it was business as usual and they were only interested in the next race.

"The young girl came back out. I asked what had happened to the dog. She nonchalantly shrugged her shoulders and muttered 'Oh it has broken its leg, it's worth nothing now - they'll put it down'.

Tony Peters, National Co-ordinator of Greyhound Action, commented:

"We send investigators to monitor conditions and treatment of the dogs at greyhound tracks all over the country and, sadly, what happened to that poor dog at Hall Green last night is quite commonplace. In fact, there was a similar incident last time our investigators visited Hall Green a few months ago.

"Greyhounds running on British tracks sustain more than 12,000 injuries every year and 10% of dogs that race are already suffering from injuries. The majority of dogs that are no longer able to race because of injury are put to death.

"The same applies to dogs which are adjudged to be no longer good enough to continue racing - and all in all we estimate that about 6,000 ex-racing dogs are killed in Britain every year. Some ex-racing greyhounds are lucky enough to be found good homes or are cared for at dog rescue centres, and some are looked after by their owners or trainers, but this is only a minority. There are simply not homes available for the massive number of dogs disposed of by the industry.

"Thousands of young greyhounds are killed before they even enter racing because they are deemed to be not up to standard. Much of this happens in Ireland, but is still the responsibility of the British greyhound racing industry as 90% of the dogs which run on British tracks are Irish.

"All in all, each major greyhound track in this country (including such places as Hall Green) is responsible for the deaths of 500 greyhounds every year - and sadly, the lucky ones are those which are 'put to sleep' by a vet. There have been incidences of dogs being drowned, poisoned or beaten to death, and we have received reports from all over the country about trainers shooting ex-racing dogs. In fact, only recently our investigators uncovered a series of pits containing the bodies of greyhounds which had been shot by a trainer in North Warwickshire.

"In view of all this, we have come to the conclusion that the only solution is for greyhound racing to be abolished. Voluntary agreements by the greyhound racing industry (like the recent Charter for the Racing Greyhound) to improve the welfare of greyhounds, are unenforceable in law and the industry has always been either unable or unwilling to enforce even its own regulations with regard to the welfare of the dogs.

"We are therefore campaigning for a ban on greyhound racing, and have received considerable public support for this, as most people consider it totally wrong that these dogs should suffer and die merely for the purpose of entertainment.

"In the past ten years greyhound racing has been banned in six American states because of a similar situation over there, but as we appreciate that such legislation is only a long-term prospect here, we are concentrating our efforts on persuading people to boycott greyhound racing.

"We are calling on the general public not to go to greyhound racing and not to bet on it, so that the greyhound racing industry gradually withers away through lack of financial support."

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