Greyhound Action Newsletter

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Running for their Lives!

 

Newsletter of Greyhound Action Issue 2 Winter 2002-3

 

Greyhound Action goes International

 

Sadly the suffering and slaughter of dogs caused by the greyhound racing

industry isn't just limited to the UK, but occurs in many other countries

where commercial greyhound racing takes place.For this reason we have now

formed an international section called Greyhound Action International (GAI)

to fight to protect greyhounds throughout the world. GAI works alongside

existing greyhound protection groups in other countries and helps with the

creation of such groups where there are none inexistence.Greyhound Action

International has already produced its own leaflets, helped set up greyhound

protection groups in Ireland and Australia and issued Action Alerts against

greyhound racing in Asia and the use of greyhounds for cruel experiments in

Australia. GAI can be contacted at the Greyhound Action address or e-mailed

at <A

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ational</A>

 

Demos against Australian greyhound exports

 

In September Greyhound Action International organized demonstrations in

Australia, Ireland, and the UK to protest against the export of Australian

greyhounds for racing in south-east Asia. GAI issued a press release on

Aug.29 condemning the Australian racing authorities and federal live-animal

export minister Warren Truss for exporting greyhounds to known

dog-meat-eating countries. Press release packages were sent to all national

and several local newspapers, more than 20,000 leaflets were distributed to

the public and several local radio stations covered the protests.

On Sept 3, a demo was held in London outside the Australian High Commission

and thousands of leaflets were distributed to the public and to the staff at

the neighbouring BBC and BBCWorld Service buildings.

The following day more than 20 people from Ireland and Scotland held a

protest outside the World Greyhound Racing Federation offices in Clonmel,

County Tipperary, and letters of protest were given tothe WGRF's president,

Gerry Desmond.

On Sept 9, a protest was held at the Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne and was

the first demonstration highlighting the suffering of greyhounds ever to take

place in Australia. Dogaid Australia later took part in a 20 minute programme

on a popular radio station in Victoria, in which they outlined the plight of

greyhounds in Asia and called for an export ban.

On Dec20th, another protest was held outside the Australian High Commission

in London, were again thousands of leaflets were distributed to the public

and press releases issued. The protest was covered on the radio and the BBC

news.

 

 

South Africa - dog racing stays illegal

 

In June, the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein dismissed, with costs,

anapplication by the the United Greyhound Racing and Breeders Society

(UGRABS)on the dog racing issue.The case brought by UGRABS was a challenge to

existing ordinances whichprohibit dog racing and could be seen as an attempt

to open the door tolegalising the activity throughout the country. " This

will not happen now, " said NSPCA Executive Director Marcelle Meredith, " A

potential disaster forgreyhounds has been averted. " Following the court

hearing, the NSPCA (South Africa's National Society forthe Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals), which opposed the UGRABS application,issued a statement

saying that thousands of animals would suffer if dogracing were permitted

and that that self-regulation did not work, with Ireland and the USA being

illustrations of its failure.In 1995 the South African Lotteries and Gambling

Board was charged by the government with the task of reviewing and

investigating arguments both forand against dog racing. The Board received

presentations from people andparties on both sides and, based on the

findings, recommended that no formof greyhound or any other dog racing be

allowed, be it amateur orprofessional, and that legislation be vigorously

enforced.

 

 

Greyhound racing ends in Italy

Greyhound racing came to an end in Italy earlier this year with the

closure,through bankruptcy, of the Cinodromo dog race track in Rome. Over 350

dogs were left in the kennels at the stadium, but these are being found good

homes in Italy, and in other European countries through the valiant efforts

of greyhound rescue charity Greyhounds in Need.The Rome Cinodromo was the

only greyhound stadium left in Italy following the closure of the Naples

track a few years ago.

 

In 1999 Greyhound Action helped local animal protection campaigners to

successfully oppose a proposed dog track in Cattolica, near Rimini.

 

Irish breeder banned for life

Greyhound breeder John O'Connor has been fined £1,000 and banned from " owning "

animals for life after inspectors from the Kildare Society for thePrevention

of Cruelty to animals found dead and starving greyhounds at his kennels at

The Curragh.The British greyhound racing industry bears a large

responsibility for the fate of greyhounds at the hands of people like

O'Connor, as the vast majority of the dogs that run on British tracks are

bred in Ireland.

 

News from the USA

 

Authorities in Baldwin County, Alabama arrested three more people on

felonyanimal cruelty charges on November 7 in connection with nearly 2,000

greyhounds found shot to death in May on an 18-acre property in

Lillian,Alabama. The town is just across the state line from Florida, where

morethan a third of the greyhound race tracks in the United States are

located.Back in May, authorities charged Robert Rhodes, 68, with three

separatefelonies after he admitted being paid $10 a dog to kill thousands

ofgreyhounds since the 1960s, using a .22-caliber pistol to shoot the

animalsin the head.(Several cases have come to light in England recently, of

" unwanted " greyhounds being shot by trainers etc. to save the veterinary fees

of havingthem " put to sleep " . From information received by Greyhound Action,

itappears that this barbaric practice is widespread. Unfortunately, it

isextremely difficult to prove cruelty in this country, so the RSPCA has

notbeen able to bring court cases against the individuals concerned)

In Arizona, voters have rejected (by an overwhelming 80% majority)Proposition

201, which would have expanded gambling at greyhound racingtracks and

provided a new revenue stream for the greyhound racing industry.The failure

of Proposition 201 has helped to minimize the profit that can bemade from the

exploitation of greyhounds.Also in Arizona, state regulators have suspended

licences held by PinalCounty greyhound breeder and trainer Gregory Wood after

he was found to beusing live rabbits to train racing greyhounds, and his

contract to race dogsat Phoenix Greyhound Park was cancelled. Approximately

180 live rabbits wereremoved from Wood's farm by Pinal County Animal Control

and it is likelythat animal cruelty charges will be brought against him by

the localAttorney's Office.(Once again, this is something which also happens

in the UK. In 1999 the manager of the Hawick greyhound track in Scotland -

now, thankfully,closed - and a local trainer were convicted of cruelty

charges after they tied live rabbits to the track's artificial hare in order

to traingreyhounds)Following an undercover investigation by state

authorities, Jeremy J.Michaud, a greyhound trainer at the Geneva Lakes Kennel

Club in Wisconsin,lost his licence and was fined $7,500 for beating a racing

dog and injectingseveral dogs with steroids. Janet Diercks, a greyhound

kennels owner, wasfined $1,000 for helping Michaud.

 

We've got a website!

 

The new Greyhound Action website is now up and running

atwww.greyhoundaction.co.ukMany thanks to emonkeys, an ethical design

collective run by vegans, who designed and administer the website for us for

free.Pay the site a visit for all the latest news about our campaign against

greyhound racing.Stopping them in their tracks

 

If you live in or near...Armadale, Ayr, Bannockburn, Bargoed, Birmingham,

Bolton, Brighton, Cambois,Castleford, Crayford, Doncaster, Easington,

Ellesmere Port, Glasgow, Gretna,Great Yarmouth, Harlow, Henlow, Hengoed,

Hinckley, Hoddesdon, Hull, London,Manchester, Mildenhall, Milton Keynes,

Newcastle-under-Lyme,Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Newton Abbot, Nottingham, Oxford,

Peterborough,Pontefract, Poole, Portsmouth, Rotherham, Reading, Romford,

Sheffield,Sittingbourne, Stainforth, Sunderland, Swansea, Swindon, Thornton,

Warwick,Wheatley Hill, Wishaw, Wolverhampton...you have a dog track on your

doorstep. Contact Greyhound Action fordetails of how you can help to close it

down.Printed VersionIf you would also like the printed version of our

newsletter sent to youthrough the post, please send us an e-mail giving your

postal address.Greyhound Action, PO Box 127, Kidderminster, DY10 3UZTel:

01562 745778 Fax: 0870 138 3993E-mail: <A

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..uk</A>