The Big Cover Up

By John Ratcliffe

Because of diligent campaigning by dedicated groups of compassionate people who are striving to put an end to the terrible exploitation, suffering and death that is an inherent characteristic of the greyhound racing industry, and also because of several newspaper reports that have exposed what has been and still is, happening to thousands of beautiful dogs every day, the racing industry is fighting back. They are trying to refute the hard clear evidence by saying that the greyhounds in their care are treated well. They say, why would we treat them badly, we want them to be well cared for in order to win races. Well at least by saying that they have admitted that their only concern is that the dogs are fit enough to win races.

Even if what they say is true, and I dispute that anyway because their idea of comfortable standards for the dogs is far different than mine, it still only applies while a particular dog is making money. If the dog is injured and requires expensive veterinary care, does it get the treatment it needs? I can tell you that the answer in the very great majority of cases is no, it doesn't. It is very probable that the dog will be killed. If a greyhound is lucky enough to escape serious injury it will still, after three to five years come to the end of its racing career. At this point the industry will have you believe that all the dogs are then found good homes by their homefinding department, the Retired Greyhound Trust. (RGT.)

About nine thousand greyhounds come to the end of their racing career each year. Do you really believe that there are nine thousand families in Britain every year waiting to give a good home to an ex-racing greyhound? If you have ever tried to get a stray dog into an animal sanctuary you will realize the naivety of such a belief. They are all full to bursting with all kinds of stray and unwanted dogs. There are not enough potential homes for even these dogs, so where are nine thousand more homes going to come from to take the unwanted "stock" of the greyhound racing industry?

We have not yet even addressed the worst part of all of this cruel, greedy game. In order to supply replacements for the nine thousand "retiring" dogs each year, about thirty thousand puppies are bred, mainly in Ireland. If nine thousand make it through to the tracks of England and Ireland what happens to the rest? That's approximately twenty one thousand living beings every year. What happens to them? Please ask yourself that question and see if you can answer it for yourself satisfactorily.

When they have reached the age required the new puppies will be "trialed" , that means checked to see if their chase instinct is developed enough to undergo further "training". The ones that show no interest in chasing will, quite simply be killed, and I don't mean humanely by a vet. It's as simple as that. Is that acceptable to you? Even the ones that pass their initial trials will be graded, and the ones with the lowest potential will be disposed of. Finally, after twenty one thousand of these souls have disappeared, there will be the required nine thousand for the tracks. They will then begin their short but hazardous life and we find ourselves back at the end of the second paragraph.

Have you ever wondered what really does happen at this stage. Having dismissed the absurd claims by the industry that good homes are found for the dogs, ask yourself what really does happen. This article was not meant to address this question. There are many pages on my web site that cover the issue, please have the courage to read them and find out for yourself what the industry has succeeded in covering up for so long.

There is a lot of money behind the greyhound racing industry and they are using some of it at the moment on expensive advertisements in the newspapers and television. They are offering free admission; a free race card; even free drinks and meals. They are panicking because more and more people are finding out for themselves what has been hidden from them for over eighty years. It must be costing them a lot of money but they can afford it. They need to attract new punters to maintain their greedy lifestyle and the ultimate losers are the beautiful dogs that they are exploiting. Do you want to be a link in this chain of suffering and death? I suspect not if you have read this far, so please do all you can to bring an end to competitive greyhound racing worldwide. The way to do this is simply to tell everyone in your address book what you have learned and ask them to tell everyone they know, and so on. No business can survive without customers so please educate the customers of the greyhound racing industry. The dogs are depending on you.

I have spent a long time in rescue and re-homing of Greyhounds, many from the race tracks. I have seen many atrocities and I know what a terribly cruel world it is for a racing Greyhound. There is no copyright on anything on http://www.greyhoundmuses.com and everything is freely available for you to use to make as many people as possible aware if the inherent cruelty within this industry.