| Richard
Newell, a greyhound breeder living in Ireland (Co. Cork), has admitted,
in posts made on Sunday 11 Nov 07, on the greyhoundscene pro dog
racing forum, that large numbers of greyhounds are put to death
before they even reach the UK tracks.
Some
of his very revealing statements are below:
"I have two bitches (greyhounds) in my garage outside, some
would say that's cruel making them live outside! I wil say go
and feckin mind your own business and get a life!
If
I want to have my bitches put down I will, just like the farmer
down the road if he has his sheep dog put down or kills one of
his pigs, that ain't my business and it ain't no business of any
anti.
I think you all live in cloud cuckoo land if you think there
aren't hundreds of greys put to sleep before they even reach the
track in the UK. Hundreds of pups are too slow to grade, some
don't chase others fight, injuries as pups etc etc. That is a
fact, if you don't like it get out of the game.
I
am a realist............ and I am also knowledgeable enough to
know that we pander to the anti's to much. Feck em! Let them come
to my place here in Cork and see how my pups are reared and how
my broods live their lives. I'd love to take out an anti down
to the forest I go to every day with my pups in the hope my pups
catch sight of something and chase it down and kill it. Sorry
if that offends you but my pups are being bred to chase, and hunt
and eventually show enough courage on a track to go through the
rigours of racing.
Fecks sake a greyhound is what it is. If you don't like
the hard facts of quarry being hunted by greys or any other hunting
dog then I think you is in the wrong game.
I breed my pups If they don't or can't race then they have
to go. Hard but true and not easy for me to take that trip to
the vets but alas it has to be done otherwise before to long if
every breeder were to keep every pup alive there would be thousands
more greys being given away to abusers and the like because it
would not be possible to rehome every one of them without real
retirement options in place.
Not only that there are still a great number of people,
certainly in Ireland that see their greys as livestock and no
more than that. A few have them rehomed but the majority are put
down after their use is over. Again, hard true fact.
And
don't tell me that the majority of BAGS trainers see their inmates
as anything other than livestock? I doubt the majority of BAGS
dogs get a daily gallop out in a field or a hunt in a forest,
more like 10 minutes emptying out twice a day and a trip to the
local track once a week running lame for £15 to line the
pocket of a caring Bookmaker
I'm so glad I moved away from England. Where I live now
there are folk out hunting with dogs most night's. Nobody where
I live bothers the hunter or his dogs, in fact they are mostly
welcomed onto their land to hunt.
Our
vet recognizes and readily accepts that my greys are bred for
a purpose and are not pets. Whatever anti thought of the slogan
"Greyhounds make great Pets" very clever, it's been
dished out to the public so much they only associate the words
Greyhound and Pet and there is your problem, the public now see
greys as pets!
Greyhound
Action comment:-
Many
may feel, from what he has to say, that Newell is a callous and
evil animal abuser, but his honesty about the mass-slaughter that
lies at the core of commercial greyhound racing has given us another
nail to hammer into the coffin of the dog racing industry.
According
to our research, about 15,000 greyhounds, bred for the British
greyhound racing industry, are put to death before they even reach
the tracks. Most of these dogs are bred in Ireland, and many of
them are killed there, after being considered unfit for racing
in Britain.
Although many of these dogs may never even reach our shores, the
British greyhound racing industry is nevertheless responsible
for their slaughter, as it is demand coming from the British tracks
that has caused them to be bred in the first place.
Newell's
comments reveal, once again, the connection between greyhound
racing and bloodsports and the fact that many of those involved
in the racing industry have little respect or consideration for
animals of any kind.
BAGS
stands for Bookmakers Afternoon Greyhound Service and applies
to dog races run at many stadiums in the afternoon to cater for
the needs of the betting shops. Dogs running in BAGS races tend
to be slower than those taking part in the traditional evening
races and are therefore treated as even more of a disposable commodity
by the racing industry.
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