Heavy Marketing Campaign Fails to Halt the Decline
25.11.09
Nationally, attendances at dog tracks dropped by 3.2% during 2008 and despite the gambling industry’s heavy TV marketing campaign and endless freebies advertised through local media, greyhound racing is fast becoming a dwindling spectator ‘sport’ - leaving it fourth in the ranks of popularity, followed by cricket.
Further evidence can be seen by the huge reduction of licensed trainers. According to the GBGB website, the number of registered trainers has fallen by 14% since 2008 but most importantly greyhound breeding figures are continuing to fall both here in the UK and Ireland.
Latest figures from the Greyhound Racing Association - just one of a number of promoters - recorded a 15.3% fall in attendances together with an 11% drop in revenue and only the sale of their Portsmouth track prevented the company from making a pre-tax loss of £1.6m.
GRA own five tracks throughout England - Birmingham’s Hall Green and Perry Barr, Manchester’s Belle Vue, Oxford and Wimbledon. In a bid to save what must be a short term future of the last remaining London track - Wimbledon – the GRA have taken drastic action by not only dropping the loss-making midweek Tuesday race meeting but have also announced the closure of the main grandstand and will now operate solely from the smaller stand on the back straight.
Dark clouds hang over Wimbledon's future
The cost of upgrading the smaller stand is estimated to be in the region of 400K and 50% of the funding is anticipated to come from the gambling industry. The very same industry who claimed in their response to the recently proposed welfare regulations that installation of heating in trackside kennels - to maintain an ambient temperature - was deemed ‘unnecessary and indeed will be extremely difficult to maintain’ - or to be more precise, an unnecessary expense.
And whilst the industry continue to market a fun and glamorous night at the dogs, where punters can wine and dine in plush surroundings – behind the scenes, the industry's so called ‘fine athletes’ will be confined to unheated kennels for hours on end with only a coat to keep them warm.
Let us not forget, the now dilapidated Walthamstow stadium, received nearly half a million pounds in improvement grants from the gambling industry shortly before its forced closure – is history about to repeat itself?
There are weekly leafleting campaigns held at three of the GRA tracks – Belle Vue in Manchester, Hall Green in Birmingham and Wimbledon in South West London.
If you would like to actively campaign in raising the public’s awareness at any of the above stadiums, please phone Greyhound Action on
01562 700 043 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Greyhounds Found in Appalling Conditions
20.11.09
(Edited: 22.12.09)
A man has been jailed for 3 months after being found guilty of starving two greyhounds in what Judge Desmond Zaidan has described as a ‘difficult and disturbing’ case.
Please click on images to enlarge
"They are desperate, they are really bad," commented the judge. "You can literally count every single bone on these dogs."
Twenty year old Thomas Daly from Carbury, pleaded guilty to two charges of animal cruelty before Kildare District Court.
Anonymous tip offs to both Paws Animal Rescue and then passed on to Orchard Greyhound Sanctuary prompted the ISPCA to investigate the complaints. Inspector Conor Dowling told the court that on October 7 last year, they found a white female dog shut into a dirty cattle trailer that had not been cleaned for two weeks and another dog living in a pen alongside with no shelter and which was strewn with faeces.
Please click on images to enlarge
Mr Daly told the court that he lived with his parents in a remote area and had not been at school since he was 14 – occasionally working as a farm labourer. He said a friend had rang and asked him if he wanted the dogs, which were later left by his friend ‘at the top of the lane’.
The greyhounds are earmarked and clearly bred for racing but the Irish Greyhound Board could find no current records of previous owners.
Sentencing Mr Daly to 3 months imprisonment for each offence – to run concurrently - Judge Desmond Zaidan ordered Mr Daly be assessed and receives counselling from a psychologist regarding cruelty to animals.
Along with the custodial sentence, Mr Daly was banned from keeping dogs or any other animals for life and also fined €750 on each count of cruelty and ordered to pay ISPCA costs of €454.
Both greyhounds were entrusted to Orchard Greyhound Sanctuary have now successfully been rehabilitated and re-homed.
Please click on the links to see the fantastic work of Orchard Greyhound Sanctuary and PAWS
http://www.orchardgreyhoundsanctuary.com/
http://www.paws.ie/
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Greyhound Stadium Set to Close
01.11.09
As anticipated and following last weeks prosecution for offences under the Animal Welfare Act, Swansea Greyhound Stadium announced today, they will be holding their last race meeting on Saturday November 7th.
Whilst it is always good news to hear of dog tracks closing – it is vitally important to ensure the welfare of the estimated 100 redundant greyhounds that will now need to be re-homed.
Unlike Walthamstow and Reading - which were forced to close last year - Swansea is an independent track and will receive no financial help through the Retired Greyhound Trust or from the betting industry, which without doubt some of these dogs will have generated thousands of pounds profits for, whilst racing on licensed tracks.
Greyhound Rescue Wales, together with five independent welfare groups have formed a task force called ‘Operation Greyhound’ to finance and co-ordinate the rescue, rehabilitation and re-homing of these dogs - now surplus to requirements.
Please click here to read Greyhound Rescue Wales’ Press Release and for details of how you can help.