Greyhound Racing

The following is edited from material written by our friends at the National Animal Rights Association

Tens of thousands of greyhounds are exploited, enslaved, abused, bred and killed in Ireland every year by the greyhound racing industry. Unsurprisingly, greyhound racing is tied in with yet another horrific practice - it is actually the Irish Coursing Club (not the Irish Greyhound Board) that keeps the “Stud Book” for all greyhounds registered in Ireland. The records there don't actually account for the number of unregistered puppies killed due to not being "good enough" to race, so there are countless more deaths at the hands of this industry that we don't even know about.

If you support greyhound racing, you’re directly funding the exploitation, abuse and deaths of these dogs.

Although these dogs are bred in Ireland, the majority are sold on to supply the demands of the British greyhound racing industry.

Dogs who actually make it to the track experience immense suffering during their racing careers. It has been estimated that greyhounds running on British tracks sustain more than 12,000 injuries every year and that 10% of dogs that race are already suffering from injuries. Injured toes, torn muscles, strained tendons and arthritic joints are commonplace.

There have also been numerous doping scandals uncovered in the Irish racing industry — many dogs are given drugs, such as cocaine, before a race to increase their speed.

At least 10,000 greyhounds “retire” from racing every year, at an average age of just 2½ years old. This is either because of injury or because they are judged to be no longer good enough to race. Many ex-racing greyhounds are simply abandoned and a large number are killed, sometimes by methods such as drowning or poisoning, because most “owners” and trainers are not prepared to take care of them or rehome them. The shooting of greyhounds, as a killing method, is not uncommon and was exposed by RTE in their undercover investigation Greyhounds Running for Their Lives.

Bodies of greyhounds have been found all over the country, washed up on rivers or found in woods. Occasionally, some are found still alive – mutilated. As greyhounds are tattooed on both ears, to identify them for racing and coursing purposes, “owners” often actually cut the dogs’ ears off. This is to prevent the identity of the dog becoming known, and thus his former “owners” being traced.

Every year many hundreds of ‘unwanted’ greyhounds are shipped to Spain to be kept for racing in appalling conditions or used for hunting and coursing. Dogs that turn out to he no good for hunting are often brutally disposed of, with hanging being a favourite method. Some are even sent to Asia, were they are either killed for the meat trade or used in laboratories for vivisection.

The only way to prevent the massive suffering and killing of greyhounds caused by the greyhound racing industry is for greyhound racing to be completely abolished.

It's important to remember that, despite the horrific cruelty involved in the greyhound industry, animals are simply not ours to use for entertainment or profit regardless of their welfare needs being met or not.