Shocking figures from the dog racing industry expose the grim reality of the sport as more than two thousands greyhounds died and twenty two thousand were injured between twenty eighteen and twenty twenty two. It comes as animal welfare charity the Blue Cross begins a campaign to have the sport banned across the United Kingdom.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 22,000 greyhounds are injured over the last four or five years.
00:06 Actually, there's only 18,000 greyhounds take part in it, which means in essence every greyhound
00:09 has some form of injury from racing.
00:11 England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland make up four of the ten countries in the world
00:17 that still allow greyhound racing.
00:19 Blue Cross says the avoidable suffering and loss of even a single dog is a tragic event,
00:24 not to mention the 22,000 injured and more than 2,000 killed between 2018 and 2022
00:31 as a result of participation in the sport.
00:33 Greyhound racing is inherently dangerous.
00:36 You've got dogs racing at up to 40 miles an hour around a tight oval circuit
00:40 and sadly, if they hit each other, they trip, then there's injuries going to happen.
00:45 In fact, the industry's own statistics show that a stunning 244 greyhounds died due to racing last year
00:53 and over 4,000 were injured.
00:55 A recent survey conducted by the charity revealed that an overwhelming majority, 91% of the British public,
01:01 neither engage in nor support greyhound racing.
01:05 And so the charity is calling on the government to phase out greyhound racing over five years,
01:10 allowing the industry to wind down while working with dog welfare organisations
01:14 to ensure the safety of all racing dogs and find them loving retirement homes.
01:19 We've had discussions with the Welsh Parliament about bringing it to an end
01:22 and hopefully they'll collect the evidence and going to make a decision at the end of the year.
01:26 So it may well be banned in Wales to start off with and then we'll see about the rest of the UK.
01:30 But that's why we feel now is a good time to get this petition going
01:34 and actually there's just too many injuries and too many deaths happening out there.
01:38 The charity is calling on the public for their help, either by signing their petition
01:42 to have the ban debated in Parliament or by thinking of opening their home to an ex-racer themselves.
01:48 Greyhounds make fantastic family pets. They are loving and they're caring breeds of dogs.
01:54 And most people see though that because they race, they need huge amounts of exercise.
01:58 And actually most greyhounds like a short walk and they prefer to cuddle up on the sofa and have a cuddle with you.
02:04 So that's why they make great family pets. Their temperament is fantastic.
02:08 The difficulty we face as a rehoming charity, and we rehome a greyhound every week,
02:13 is they often come to us in a bad condition.
02:16 When we first got our greyhound, he didn't go up the stairs because he'd never been upstairs before.
02:21 And he's a bit wary. They're wary of washing machines and things like that because they've never been in a home before.
02:26 No, they haven't. They've been in kennels and they only come out for training and they come out for races.
02:31 Well, there's 13 million dog owners in this country and most of us, in fact, all of us wouldn't keep our family pet,
02:38 our family dog in a kennel all day and then just take it out for a walk.
02:42 The greyhounds are no different. They don't want to live like this.
02:44 And therefore, because they're not socialised and they don't see the things that you normally do in life, that's what happens.
02:49 They get scared of washing machines. And actually, that's one of the reasons we feel that it's not just the racing industry is the problem.
02:55 It's the overall care and welfare. And why now we're calling for an end to this sport and for people to sign the petition.