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Tens of thousands of greyhound dogs are retired each year, but only a small number of these are re-homed. What is the fate of the rest of these dogs, who have not even reached half their expected age by the time they retire from racing? Read on to find out.
Image: Anti Greyhound Racing Poster. Source
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Greyhound Racing looks fairly harmless on the surface. But when you delve deeper in to the reality of it, there is a murky world behind the facade. Appalling cruelty takes place behind the scenes in this money driven industry.
The majority of racing greyhounds which do not make money for their owners are callously killed in a variety of horrifyingly inhumane ways. Others are neglected and starved until dead, sold to vivisectors in animal experimentation labs, beaten and left for dead, drowned, and abandoned.
Image: Unwanted Greyhound dogs, murdered then dumped. Racing dogs are regularly inhumanely killed once they no longer make money for owners and trainers in the Greyhound racing industry. Source
Greyhound dogs are kept in tip-top running condition when they are making their owners and backers money. Those are the Greyhound dogs that are seen by the public and is the image promoted by the Greyhound racing world. Even so, they do not receive the love and affection dogs crave.
The Greyhounds are thought of as commodities and may become worth nothing in monetary terms through age, being injured or
simply not having made the grade. Because the industry is money driven, owners do not want to pay to look after dogs who are not making themmoney.
Image: An unwanted Greyhound dog called Kerry. Starved to death and dumped in a bin. Source
Before being thrown out on the streets, left to die or inhumanely killed, many Greyhounds are subjected the agonising torture of having their ears sliced off, without any anaesthetic or painkilling method.
This is done because racing dogs have identity tattoos in their ears which their owners can be traced from.
Image: A Greyhound which had it’s ears sliced off before being abandoned. Greyhound dogs’ ears are cut off so the owner can not be traced through ID tattoos in their ears used in Greyhound racing. No anaesthetic or painkilling methods are used, so the dogs are put through agony. It also leaves them extremely susceptible to infection. This can lead to a slow and horrific death.
Apart from being extremely cruel, this leaves the dog very vulnerable to life threatening infection. Infection causes these dogs a long horrible, painful death if not treated.
Rather than this barbaric act being performed, the dogs could be taken to a re-homing shelter. After all, it is not illegal to take a dog to be re-homed and Greyhounds make fantastic pets.
It is a misconception that ex-racing Greyhounds need excessive exercise. In fact, they just need a normal amount like any other dog, and can enjoy lazing around a lot. However, they usually love a bit of a run if the opportunity arises.
Image: Rescued ex-racing Greyhounds. Greyhound dogs make the most wonderful pets. Source
Some retired Greyhounds are locked away and neglected, starved of food, water, warmth, exercise, love and affection, veterinary treatment and contact with the outside world. They do not make money, so owners and trainers see no value in them at all and see no point in keeping them alive.
Image: Neglected, starving and suffering ex-racing Greyhound dogs. These dogs are unwanted and uncared for by their owners and trainers in the Greyhound racing industry because they no longer make money for them. Source
Another fate that Greyhounds who are no longer wanted face is being sold to animal experimentation laboratories. There, they have a miserable existence of fear, pain and misery.
They are put through mental torture and driven mad by being confined to tiny cages, and they are only taken out to be tortured in cruel and painful animal tests. They are denied the love and affection they desperately long for and are terrified of the only people they see due to the pain they inflict upon them.
Having suffering prolonged agony being experimented on, the Greyhounds are killed. That is if they have not died from the trauma before then.
To find out more about what happens to animals in research laboratories, please see the animal experimentation page.
Image: Greyhound in cramped cage. Source
There are some individuals that see a business opportunity in the killing and disposing of retired Greyhound dogs. The greyhound racing trainers and owners pass on their retired dogs for such people to kill in any way they wish, and dispose of.
Image: Andrew Gough caused Greyhound dog Rusty, and many others, a frightening death by shooting them. Source
Image: This man transports the dead bodies of dogs he was paid to kill. Source
Video: Showing the callous nature of the greyhound racing industry
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As long as people bet on the dogs, these atrocities will continue to happen.
WHAT CAN I DO?
Firstly, by never betting on greyhounds, or supporting this cruel industry in any way, you will not be supporting its cruelty.
Helping other people understand the true horror behind Greyhound racing, and encouraging them not to support the industry will also help the dogs’ plight. Share the information you learn on this site on social media, and with friends and family.
Also, if functions such as work events are held at greyhound racing tracks, do not support the ground by attending. All the money earned there keeps the grounds open and dog racing continuing. Let other people know your reasons for not attending.
You can get involved in protests and demonstrations, and support petitions and email campaigns.
Adopt a greyhound. They are wonderful pets and are great with kids. Contrary to popular belief, they don’t need excessive exercise.
There are many greyhound rescues, such as:
Birmingham Greyhound Protection
Many more greyhound rescues can be found through online searches.
If you would like to find organisations needing your action and support to fight against this type of cruelty, type “stop greyhound racing” into a search engine online, or search bar on social media, find here.
Remember to use a fundraising search engine whenever you search the internet, so you can help animals while you search.
Raise funds for organisations helping greyhounds and campaigning against their abuse. Find ideas on how to do that here.
On this site there are many varied ways you can help stop animal cruelty, and there are ways that will suit everyone, no matter what your personality or lifestyle. Have a look and see what ways would suit you.
If you would like to learn more about why we so urgently need to help stop animal suffering, please have a look at the Types Of Animal Cruelty section of this site. It will allow you to broaden your knowledge of many different types of animal abuse that happens in the world.
Help animals further by sharing the ways to stop animal cruelty you learn with other people and on social media. Doing this could mean more people help stop the cruelty, and therefore you are responsible for more animals being saved from suffering.
