National Greyhound Awards
at the Keadeen Hotel , Newbridge. Kildare

Please tell the owner of the Keadeen Hotel a Mrs Rose O loughlin the facts about the Greyhound Industry whose AWARDS they are hosting there.The Hotel manager is Joe O Gorman.

1) See below for details of the event

2) Email them with facts about the dogs who have been mutilated and killed (see especially www.greyhoundaction.org.uk/facts7.html )

KEADEEN HOTEL.
Curragh Road,
Newbridge,
Co. Kildare,
Ireland

T. +353 (0)45 431666 F. +353 (0) 45 434402

Email: info@keadeenhotel.ie

Website: www.keadeenhotel.ie

Read on for more details of a demo that has been organised:

On the evening of Sunday May 7th 2006 representatives of the dog racing industry will be forced to run the gauntlet of greyhound protection campaigners as they arrive at the Keadeen Hotel for an awards ceremony hosted by the Irish Greyhound Racing Board (Bord Na gCon).

A protest at the suffering and slaughter of many thousands of dogs caused by the greyhound racing industry will include our very own trophy presentation award to officials of the IGB ….…………….This will be the "Dog Killers of the Year" award.

We will be there to express our disgust at the callous treatment of greyhounds by the racing industry. Greyhound Action's spokesperson said

"We weren't going to let the Irish Greyhound Board get away with their wining, dining and mutual back-slapping without vociferously bringing home to them exactly what we think about their disgusting so-called "sport" that makes them all a nice living from the ruthless persecution of innocent creatures.

" These dogs are killed, either because they are not suitable for racing or because their racing careers are over. "Each year well over 25,000 greyhounds are bred in Ireland, mostly to supply the demands of the Irish racing industry. The vast majority of these dogs will be disposed of by the industry before they are 3 or 4 years old.

"Only a few percent of these 'unwanted' greyhounds will find good homes. Most are either killed or face an even worse fate. Since greyhound racing started in this country hundreds of thousands of greyhounds have been put to death, and the figure could easily be over a million. "Those which are 'put to sleep' by a vet can count themselves lucky. Many are just abandoned or are killed by a variety of horrific methods, such as clubbing, drowning or injection with poisonous substances. Many Greyhounds are having their ears sliced, burned or hacked off in ever increasing numbers to avoid identification when dumped. These are being found both dead and alive.

"In addition there are thousands of injuries, many of them serious, caused to greyhounds running on Irish tracks every year plus the administering of drugs by the industry including the use of Largactol, EPO, Viagra, and Cocaine among others.

*Greyhound Action believes that the only real solution to this horrific state of affairs is for commercial greyhound racing to be ended. There is no way that any more than a tiny percentage of all these greyhounds can be found good homes in a situation where thousands of ordinary dogs are killed annually by local authorities, SPCAs and other organisations because homes are not available for them *Six states in the USA have banned greyhound racing in recent years, so there is no reason why a ban shouldn't be imposed in Ireland. In the meantime it is important to educate the public to boycott greyhound racing. If enough people refrained from attending greyhound racing and stopped betting on races, then the activity would die out through lack of support."

Transport is available from Dublin city centre at 4.30pm ... phone Press Officer Bernie Wright, 087 2651720 for details