Killing Field Of The Dog Industry

[kelli]

thank you for the letter-

 

also ive just seen this??

 

is this a different Protest then??

 

There will, after all, be a protest in London.

 

It will be organised by Greyhound Action.

 

It will be on a Sunday in a few weeks time

 

It will start at a park in South-West London and we will make our way to the home of Lord Lipsey, the leader of the greyhound racing industry, to hand in a letter, calling on him to bring an end to commercial greyhound racing.

 

If, for any reason, we are prevented from going to his home, we will go to Wimbledon Stadium, where we will hold a gathering, with speeches and wreath-laying.

 

We may even go to both locations.

 

The protest will call for a total ban on commercial greyhound racing, for the dog racing industry to be dismantled and for the public not to attend or bet on greyhound races.

 

There will be no talk of compromise or regulation. We want it gone. Click here for more on the Welafre Vs Abolition issue.

 

We would like for rescued greyhounds to come along too, but this aspect is yet to be decided.

 

For legal reasons, we are not calling this a march, but a protest, as we may need to walk along the pavement, rather than the middle of the road. For a march you need police permission, which we may not get. But anyone is allowed to walk along the pavement, even if it's a large group all going to the same place.

[Melp]

 

Can someone tell me exactly who is holding this inquiry please?

 

 

 

from the EDM

 

"welcomes the Government's inquiry into the slaughter and potential health and environmental hazards this may cause; and calls on the British Greyhound Racing Board to investigate this matter "

 

 

 

I guess both then?

[FoxyGirl]

This is a different march organised by Greyhound Action calling for a ban on commercial greyhound racing.

 

Many of the Rescue and Welfare groups would be unable to attend a march calling for an outright ban, or something as direct as a march to Lord Dipseys house or a track. Whilst we are disappointed GA can't attend our march in a formal capacity, we fully understand why, and it is to be expected that there would be 2 marches.

 

The important thing is that pressure is maintained and there is no reason why people can't go to both if they wish

[kelli]

I think I will do both - it would be a shame to have 2 small marches.

[lavenderblue]

Id do both too. In answer to Princess C, as I understood its a Govt inquiry , who have also called for the BGRB to also hold its own inquiry, as Melp posted. Although I could be wrong. I thought the inquiry was to be headed by B. Bradshaw.

[kelli]

how do you answer this question then?? (taken from a debate elsewhere)

 

is it the fact that dogs die that is the problem here?

 

In that case I take it that horse racing should also be banned.

(along with milk, meat, wool and leather)

 

Surely what we want is for the dog racing industry to be more tightly regulated, with harsh penalties against owners who break the existing rules.

[lurcherdan]

 

We have now had support pledged from:

 

Greyhounds in Need (G.I.N)

 

 

Can I just point out that the Patron of this charity is Lord Lipsey. Can I ask if they intend to go on this march?

[Tempest]

Have spent most of the morning catching up with this thread and letter writing. Have sent letters of to my own local MP as well as Ben Bradshaw and also Eric Martlew.

 

Have also emailled the Times supporting their publication of the original article and encouraging them to do a follow up!

[PrincessC]

Id do both too. In answer to Princess C, as I understood its a Govt inquiry , who have also called for the BGRB to also hold its own inquiry, as Melp posted. Although I could be wrong. I thought the inquiry was to be headed by B. Bradshaw.

 

Please can one of you point me to a website that tells me that (doesn't matter whether it is a news one or what) The link to the EDM doesn't say, as I put on the other thread about it. I'm sure that you think I am being pedantic but I like to get facts correct, particularly in my letters of protest.

 

Thanks

[border collie]

I read it as only being an inquiry into environmental health issues. Cannot see where I read it though.

[Melp]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/17072006/325/prob...ter-report.html

 

http://www.durhamlabour.org.uk/martlew/new...und%20Slaughter

 

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1918073.html?menu=

 

http://www.sunderlandtoday.co.uk/ViewArtic...ticleID=1633095

 

 

 

None of these are saying that the Govt WILL hold an inquiry but that they are being urged to.

 

An inquiry will be held by the Racing Industry [but only into the allegations against David Smith I think]

[Lisa73]

Can I just point out that the Patron of this charity is Lord Lipsey. Can I ask if they intend to go on this march?

 

Well the fact they have offered their support I would hope means that yes they will have sympathisers there on the day. If they are there on the day it will be because they believe that changes are necessary the same as everyone else. People will be protesting as individuals with one common goal and agree that changes are necessary, not everyone will have the same end longterm outcome in mind but that is not what this is about its about starting to get governing bodies to accept that self regulation let alone the industry itself does not work and does not have the welfare of the dogs at the forefront of their mind. Something that we ALL hopefully agree on.

 

Mel thank you for the links.

 

I should imagine that there will be a number of investigations held by many different bodies but of course the outcome of some will be more important than others.

Edited July 22, 2006 by Lisa73

[kats n greys]

Had a reply from my MP and to say the least I'm disappointed.

And I'm seriously worried about an MP that doesn't appear to read any newspapers

 

 

 

MIKE HALL MP

 

WEAVER VALE

 

 

 

HOUSE OF COMMONS

 

 

LONDON SW1A OAA

 

Ms Alicia Mitchell

 

 

 

21 July2006

 

 

Dear Ms Mitchell, Thank you for your e-mail of the 17th July 2006 about Greyhound Racing.

 

 

I did not see the story about Greyhound Killing Fields. I am however aware that the treatment of retired greyhounds is a serious cause of concern. The League Against Cruel Sports says there are 10,000 greyhounds that retire each year yet only 2,000 are known to be re-homed.

 

 

I wrote to Margaret Beckett the then Secretary of State at the Department for

 

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on this issue and received a response from Ben

 

Bradshaw MP (see attached copies).

 

 

In your letter you call for greyhound racing to be banned. I do not support the call for a ban. I do however believe the Government should bring in stronger regulations on the welfare of greyhounds. I also believe the Government should bring forward a compulsory levy on the greyhound racing industry to ensure sufficient funds are available to ensure proper levels of greyhound welfare and the re-homing of retired greyhounds.

 

 

I hope this is helpful.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Mike Hall MP

 

 

 

He's also sent me a few letters that he's had from Margaret Becket and Ben Bradshaw.

Edited July 22, 2006 by kats n greys

[Guest Guest]

Would it be worth writing back to explain why regulation and money won't solve the problem properly and many dogs are still likely to die?

[Dawn]

Follow up article

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2281781.html

 

Greyhound 'cull' trainers suspended

Daniel Foggo

 

 

 

TWO greyhound trainers face being banned from the sport after being photographed taking dogs to be slaughtered by a builders’ merchant and buried in his back garden.

Sid Fenwick and his daughter Gillian Young were caught on camera by The Sunday Times taking two greyhounds to be destroyed by David Smith. He is said to have killed 10,000 dogs and buried them in a plot of land at the back of his house in Seaham, Co Durham.

 

 

 

The two trainers have been suspended by the National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC), the sport’s governing body. Young’s husband, Graeme, has also been suspended from his job as an assistant racing manager at Pelaw Grange, a licensed dogtrack at Chester-le-Street in Co Durham.

 

Both Fenwick and Young now face formal stewards’ inquiries by the NGRC. The body has the power to fine them up to £5,000 each and to impose a lifetime ban from attending racetracks. NGRC rules stipulate that only vets can put down greyhounds.

 

The NGRC’s action comes a week after The Sunday Times exposed for the first time how healthy greyhounds were being slaughtered simply because they were no longer considered fit enough to race.

 

The killing of the greyhounds, some of which were aged only four or five and could have lived another 10 years, had long been suspected but never before proved. Alistair McLean, the NGRC’s chief executive, admitted he was “flabbergasted and appalledâ€.

 

Each year trainers retire around 10,000 licensed greyhounds from racing, but homes are only found for about a third of them. The remainder simply “disappearâ€, according to animal welfare groups.

 

Yesterday campaigners mounted dozens of protests outside tracks and betting shops throughout the country. In parliament last week, politicians raised concerns that the government’s forthcoming animal welfare act will not regulate the dog racing industry quickly enough.

 

The government is delaying until at least 2009 proposals that would make it illegal for a greyhound to be put down by anyone other than a vet using an intravenous injection.

 

The dogs buried in Smith’s so-called “canine killing field†were slaughtered by shooting them in their heads with a bolt gun, which is not at present illegal. The carcasses were then tipped into a hole in his plot before he used a mechanical digger to cover the “graves†with soil.

 

Smith told an undercover reporter that it took him three years to fill his one-acre plot with bodies, at which point he started over again. It was also said Smith had been providing a £10-a-time dog-killing service for sections of the greyhound industry for up to 15 years.

 

The scandal has caused widespread alarm within both the racing industry and also among the general public, as well as sparking inquiries by the government, the RSPCA and the tax authorities.

 

The Environment Agency, which has voiced concerns over the possible health implications of so many bodies buried in such a small space, is attempting to gain access to Smith’s land in order to excavate the plot.

 

Fenwick, 73, who was photographed arriving at Smith’s makeshift abattoir with his 44-year-old daughter and two greyhounds 11 days ago, revealed last night that the location was known to people in the industry as “the Garden of Edenâ€.

 

He said he had taken the dogs to be killed because they were too noisy and “a menaceâ€, but insisted he had never visited Smith before and had not realised how he disposed of the bodies.

 

Fenwick said he was not the dogs’ trainer and claimed that he did not know their names although he estimated them to be four or five years old.

He said an unnamed man had given him the dogs, which were lame, and he had intended to keep them as pets before becoming irritated by their constant barking. “I just got them off this chap, he’s not a trainer, he’s an owner I think,†he said.

 

 

 

“He gave them to us because they were a menace, barking and barking and barking, and I knew I’d get reported by the residents.

 

“I was going to keep them as pets, but it was private houses where I had got them and they were barking so I was talking to a chap as to the best way to put them to sleep and he said ‘the Garden of Eden, you can take them any morning’. But I wouldn’t have taken them there if I’d known [what happened there].â€

 

He added: “I’d never been there in my life and one of the chaps said . . . if you take the dogs there they are put to sleep. He [smith] has his own incinerator, the greyhounds are burnt and then the ashes are put on the land.

 

“Well, when I saw in the paper what he did with it I would never ever have taken a greyhound to be shot. I am totally innocent.â€

 

Fenwick, who said his daughter only accompanied him “for the ride†and to help unload the dogs, insisted he normally used a vet to kill dogs humanely.

 

Last week Smith was visited by the police, who have satisfied themselves he was acting within the law. Bolt guns, which kill by firing a metal rod into an animal’s skull, have not required a licence since 1997.

 

Paddy Sweeney, a retired greyhound vet, said he knew Smith well and was aware he had been killing dogs for about 20 years.

 

He said Smith provided a cheap and humane service, but he was critical of the greyhound industry for causing dogs to be frequently injured, necessitating their destruction.

 

“Without a shadow of a doubt Dave Smith puts down dogs that have been injured at licensed tracks,†he said. “He is a good man but the people who exploit the dogs are vermin, they are lower than a snake.â€

 

Harry Williams, a licensed trainer who has previously expressed concern over the welfare of retired dogs, said the industry’s problem with them being killed was linked to an increase in demand for greyhounds to fill bookmakers’ race programmes.

 

“The trainers are not interested in quality dogs, they just want cheap ones to fill race cards and, once they get injured, it is not worth their while to get them treated by a vet. We now have the advent of the disposable greyhound, thrown away like disposable nappies.â€

 

Jeff McKenna, owner of the Pelaw Grange racetrack, said he had suspended the Youngs and Fenwick as soon as he was made aware of the allegations. The NGRC has no jurisdiction over Graeme Young, but McKenna said he had suspended him because of his family links to the trainers and would carry out his own inquiry. “We take the welfare of the dogs very seriously,†he said.

 

McLean said that as a result of a hotline set up to elicit more information, the NGRC now had “quality†tip-offs on about 30 trainers.

The kennel books of trainers showing where retired dogs have been sent are now being scrutinised by officials. “This is a very serious matter. It has brought the reputation of the sport into disrepute,†said McLean.

“We will do whatever is necessary to clean up our industry even if it takes six months or a year. We are extremely grateful for the assistance provided by The Sunday Times.â€