Irish Government should consign cruel greyhound industry to the scrapheap

“We can show leadership and humanity as a nation by consigning our whole benighted greyhound industry to the scrapheap” – Read John Fitzgerald’s Letter to the Editor and urge the Irish Government to ban greyhound racing and hare coursing…

Another blow…
Letter, The Avondhu: 18th May 2024

Dear Editor,

Animal lovers worldwide are heartened by the news that Connecticut has become the 43rd US state to ban greyhound racing. Only a handful of nations still allow it due to the well-proven abuses that have always been inherent in the industry and are almost impossible to eradicate from it.

An RTE Primetime Investigates programme four years ago laid bare the extent of animal welfare problems on the Irish track racing scene…widespread doping, the unexplained disappearance of thousands of greyhounds every year, cruel abandonment of dogs and export to rogue jurisdictions where animal protection is non-existent.

There’s a high incidence of injury on Irish tracks. The injured dogs are put down, having no value to owners in their quest for profit and trophies. And once a perfectly healthy greyhound has reached the end of its racing career, or its performance is deemed to render it unviable for the track, it has no future unless someone wishes to adopt it as a pet.

Sadly, far too many of them are compelled to take that last lonely walk to the dump or quarry to be shot in the head or whacked with a shovel. The lucky ones are killed by trained vets.

On top of all this cruelty and malpractice, the industry encompasses hare coursing, a practice that even the handful of countries that still permit greyhound racing have long since abolished.

Thousands of hares – supposedly a protected species under the Wildlife Act – have dogs set on them, again for the purpose of gambling and entertainment

Do we really wish to be the last outpost on earth to allow the worst forms of animal cruelty? Let’s not wait for the few other remaining outliers to axe this so-called sport. We can show leadership and humanity as a nation by consigning our whole benighted greyhound industry to the scrapheap.

John Fitzgerald
Callan, Co. Kilkenny

ACTION ALERT

Contact the Taoiseach and Tanaiste and urge them to ban cruel greyhound racing and hare coursing.

Simon Harris TD
Taoiseach
Telephone: +353 (0)1 618 3805 or +353 (0)1 889 2442
Email: simon.harris@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
X: http://www.twitter.com/SimonHarrisTD
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DeputySimonHarris

Micheál Martin
Tanaiste
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie; info@fiannafail.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1–618 4350 or +353 (0)21-432 0088
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD

Watch RTE’s award-winning “Greyhounds Running For Their Lives” documentary

Witness the cruelty of hare coursing in Ireland