It is estimated that every year thousands of Greyhounds disappear.
This includes dogs whose racing days are over, as well as those that are bred for the sport but never make it to the track.
Government regulations to protect the welfare of racing Greyhounds are due to come into force in April 2010. Whilst Dogs Trust is pleased that there has finally been some movement on this issue, we are very disappointed with the scope of their proposals. Although there are some sensible suggestions, including microchipping, vet attendance at tracks and the collection of injury data, we feel the proposals do not go nearly far enough.
Having carefully considered the proposed measures Dogs Trust believes the proposals fall short of what is required, and we would have liked to see consideration given to the following -
- The introduction of statutory regulation across all tracks
- The inspection of breeders’ and trainers’ kennels by an authorised, independent inspector.
- An industry commitment to developing a system that matches the number of dogs entering racing with the numbers that can be rehomed
- The collection of injury statistics in a prescribed format, and the subsequent use of data to improve standards.
- Proposals for a central database to ensure that all Greyhounds can be traced from cradle to grave
Dogs Trust does not want to see the total abandonment of the regulations, but we want to ensure that this is a ‘first step’, and to see a commitment from all future Governments to building upon these proposals and developing stronger regulations to protect Greyhounds from ‘cradle to grave’.