Coventry Against Greyhound Exploitation Demos:updated 03/03/05
(note: demos take place every week ... these are just some highlights)

Demos against the circus at Brandon

When the "Great British Circus" came to Brandon ... CAGE were waiting and held demos at every performance.

Click here to visit the West Midlands Animal Action website and see a full report on the demos.

Xmas demos

Punters urged to "give greyhound racing the sack"

On the two Saturdays leading up to Christmas (December 11th and 18th) supporters of West Midlands Greyhound Action and Coventry Against Greyhound Exploitation (CAGE) held demonstrations outside Coventry Stadium to coincide with a dog racing events taking place inside. The protests were on a seasonal theme, with demonstrators carrying lanterns and wearing Christmas attire. One of the protesters was dressed as Santa, carrying a placard urging punters to "give greyhound racing the sack". The demo on December 11th was also held to mark International Animal Rights Day (see http://www.uncaged.co.uk/iard7.htm)

Friday Oct 15th demo

Protesters slam hypocrisy of race night to raise funds for rescue

On Friday Oct 15th over 20 supporters of Coventry Against Greyhound Expoloitation (CAGE) and West Midlands Greyhound Action (WMGA) braved heavy rain to hold a demonstration outside Coventry Stadium to coincide with a fundraising dog racing event for the Retired Greyhound Trust (RGT). A statement issued to the local media by WMGA included the following:- "Whilst we are fully in support of efforts to find good homes for 'retired' greyhounds and are involved in this ourselves, we wanted to draw attention to the way in which the dog racing industry uses these events to give the impression that they care about what happens to the dogs, whereas the reality is that all they care about is the pursuit of yet more profits regardless of the consequences. "The RGT succeeds in finding homes for about 2,500 greyhounds a year, but many thousands more end up being "put to sleep", or worse, at the end of their racing "careers", because there are no homes available for them. "This appalling situation is brought about by the dog racing industry and the only solution is for commercial greyhound racing to be abolished. "Therefore it is totally hypocritical for the RGT to seek to raise funds through dog racing. A situation akin to attempting to raise money for lung cancer victims by organising a smoking competition. "We were encouraged by the fact that a number of those attending last night's event stopped to talk to us and vowed never to go to greyhound racing again after hearing what we had to say." Dog racing began again at Brandon six months ago, after a break of 18 years, and Coventry Against Greyhound Exploitation have mounted a sustained campaign against it, including protests outside the stadium at least once a week.

 

September 30th Greyhound Planet at Brandon 2004 demo

Dozens in Greyhound Track Demo

Over 40 Greyhound Action supporters, many accompanied by rescued greyhounds, held a two-hour demonstration outside Coventry Stadium on Sunday, September 19th, while a dog race meeting was going on inside.

The demonstration formed part of Greyhound Planet, a day chosen each year to honour greyhounds and their relatives (galgos, lurchers etc.) throughout the world and to educate the public about the status of these dogs. (More info at http://www.ameurogreyhoundalliance.org/ghplanet.htm )

Greyhound Planet events took place in many American states, as well as in Canada, Australia and various European countries, and there were several other events in the UK.

Dog racing began again at the stadium in Brandon five months ago, after a break of 18 years, and Coventry Against Greyhound Exploitation have mounted a sustained campaign against it, including protests outside the stadium at least once a week.

The demonstration was staged to give support and encouragement to their efforts, especially as dog racing is not going well at the stadium, with poor attendances and dissatisfaction amongst punters - so, if the pressure can be kept up, it could quite soon be brought to an end. The attendance at the race meeting was particularly low, with only a few dozen vehicles, many of which contained only one person, entering the car park at the stadium.

All pictures above were taken on the demonstration.

April 23rd 2004 demo

About 35 supporters of Coventry Against Greyhound Exploitation (CAGE) took part in the demo, which coincided with the return of greyhound racing to Coventry Stadium after an absence of nearly 20 years.

The demonstrators were encouraged by the fact that attendance at the stadium for the much publicised opening night of dog racing was very poor, amounting to no more than a few hundred punters, largely made up of wide-boys in limos and low-grade hard-bitten greyhound racing enthusiasts, rather than ordinary members of the public.

Some of the protesters managed to sneak into the stadium and the general impression they got was one of a very seedy enterprise. Even some of the greyhound racing enthusiasts were moaning about the place being “a dump”. At one stage the lights failed and the stadium proprietors tried to cover up for their own incompetence by announcing over the tannoy that animal rights protesters had sabotaged the generator!

Although it is a tragedy for the dogs that another track has opened, this has to be viewed against the huge decline in the greyhound racing industry that has occurred in recent years, with dozens of tracks closing. Also, this is not a brand new track, but an old one that has re-opened - and on the evidence of the opening night, it will struggle to remain viable, especially in view of the large public education campaign being mounted by CAGE. It is not so much that the general public turn a blind eye to the suffering and slaughter of dogs caused by the greyhound racing industry, more that they are not aware of it - but once they become aware, most ordinary people will not attend or bet on greyhound races.

October 23rd 2003 demo

Rugby Advertiser, 23 October 2003

Protestors stage greyhound demo

Eliza Haswell, 8, with her greyhound Rufino and whippet Olive at Saturday's protest.

PROTESTERS fighting plans to bring greyhound racing to Brandon staged a mass demonstration in Rugby town centre on Saturday.

About 200 people, including Rugby MP Andy King, gathered at Rugby Town Hall, Evreux Way, before making their way up to the Clock Tower where they leafleted members of the public and collected 1,500 signatures for a petition.

Later in the afternoon about 40 of them made their way to Brandon where they carried on their protest outside the stadium itself.

There they were met by the stadium's owner, Avtar Sandhu, who talked to them about his proposals to reintroduce greyhound racing.

One of the protesters, Janet Cummings, said: "Most of the dogs that are bred for this so-called sport do not make the grade and are put down or shoved into rescue homes.

"This was a peaceful protest to show our complete opposition to greyhound racing in Brandon."

...one old timer enjoys the attention

...while another just enjoys the day out

...but it looks like that's were her lunch is going!

Coventry Stadium has submitted plans to Rugby Borough Council's planning department to make alterations to the stadium.

The chairman of the Planning Committee, Cllr. Ray Kirby, has said the authority is ready to take enforcement action against the stadium if it breaches current planning control.

Mrs. Cummings added: "I would urge anyone who wants to stop greyhound racing in Brandon to write to Rugby Borough Council's planning department to lodge their objection."

The man heading the greyhound racing bid for Coventry Stadium, Malcolm Francis, claimed the protesters were misguided if they thought they were protecting animals.

He said: "There seems to be a misunderstanding of what we are trying to do at Brandon. We're already equipped for greyhound racing, but our facilities are the same as they were 20 years ago.

"We're trying to bring state-of-the-art air conditioned kennels and facilities to the stadium to make it a better environment for the dogs on race night.

"There's also a perception that the dogs are going to stay here permanently, which they aren't, and that hundreds of new dogs will have to be bred just for us, which they won't."

Greyhound Action comment

The latest news from local campaigners is that the council planning committee has granted Sandhu permission to build a veterinary treatment building, but his application to construct greyhound kennels has been withdrawn. It seems that many councillors aren't happy at the prospect of greyhound racing returning to Brandon, but they weren't able to find adequate legal reasons to turn down the vet building.

Sandhu no doubt withdrew the kennels application because he knew it would be refused, but he may try to re-submit it after making changes to the plans.

It's important that any attempt to build kennels at the stadium is vigorously opposed. It's correct that greyhounds won't stay permanently at the kennels, but these will be essential to house the dogs when racing is taking place, so without them, there can be no racing.

There is no doubt that greyhound racing at Brandon will increase the demand for the breeding of more dogs, most of whom will be put to death when no longer required by the racing industry. There are a lot of greyhounds at the premises of trainers in and around Warwickshire, but these dogs are already running at existing tracks (such as the two in Birmingham), so hundreds of additional dogs will be needed if greyhound racing returns to Brandon.

Please continue to write/send messages to the Rugby Borough councillors, asking them to do whatever they can to stop the track. For details of how to contact them, and more info on the campaign, see below.

It's great to have the support of Rugby MP Andy King and no doubt he'll be able to have some positive influence on members of Rugby Borough Council.

However, the MP who's constituency covers Brandon is actually Bill Olner, MP for Nuneaton.

Please also contact Mr Olner, asking him to do whatever he can to stop the greyhound track.

Bill Olner MP, 171 Queens Rd, Nuneaton, CV11 5NB
Tel: 024 76 6422 22 Fax: 024 7664 2223
E-mail: olnerb@parliament.uk