We were recently contacted by a lady who wishes to remain anonymous and whom we shall call, for the sake of this article, Jane.
Now Jane’s personal situation is such that she is the perfect placement for the more neglected or difficult to rehome dogs (she can afford expensive vet bills, lives in the country and has no dependants). Jane is well known for taking the more ‘damaged’ greyhounds so is at the top of the list of who to contact when such a dog comes along in her local area.
Jane adopted her first greyhound in 2009 and since then has had eighteen of them with six currently in residence.
She has asked that I point out that not all have been badly treated but please just look at the list below of those that have been. It’s not pleasant reading by any means and gives a clear indication of the appalling treatment that some of these dogs have had to endure.
I think that it’s worth noting that even though some of the dogs that Jane has adopted appear not to have been neglected they were still rejected once they were no longer of any use.
Over 80% of racing greyhounds come into the UK from Ireland and are tattooed in both ears. All of the greyhounds mentioned below were Irish bred
Archie
Archie was adopted at the tender age of thirteen. He had spent his life in kennels as a stud dog and once he wasn’t useful anymore he was going to be put to sleep. Fortunately Jane was there for him once his owner had discarded him.
Casey
Casey, an elderly female and an ex Irish racer, was found emaciated and abandoned in the woods in the west of the county that Jane lives in. Quite possibly left to fend for herself and ultimately die alone.
Davie
Davie was aged nine when Jane adopted him. He’d been left to rot in a shed after his racing life was over. Davie had to have all his teeth removed as they were in such poor condition and he had to have his tail amputated as his rear was a stinking maggot infested mess. His owner really took care of him eh!
Kelly
Then there was Kelly. Kelly was left with an untreated broken leg which had to be amputated.
Teal
Teal was found in woodland tied up in a barbed wire “harness” and left to die a slow and painful death.
Freddy
Freddy was yet another greyhound that was left in kennels after his racing days were over and was so withdrawn and depressed that he was almost catatonic when rescued.
William
Well William never raced and was brought over from Ireland aged two. He has lots of scars and was totally terrified of being touched when he was rescued. Four years on he still avoids men. We’ll never know what happened to William but he still suffers with the psychological damage of those unknown traumas.
Snuff
Snuff was trial raced in Sunderland and broke his back leg at that race. He was only eighteen months old at the time and was left without treatment until he was rescued fourteen weeks later! It’s beyond comprehension how anyone could leave a dog in that amount of pain for so long.
Percy
Percy received a massive head trauma whilst racing and his skull is visibly dented. This initially caused him to have frequent fits which, with time, have thankfully now diminished both in frequency and severity. Percy has a sweet nature but Jane says that he is definitely “special needs”.
Lastly Stevie
Stevie is Jane’s most recent adoption and came from a rescue in July 2020. Blind Stevie, as he’s now known, was never raced. However ‘somebody’ had obviously decided that he was no longer of any use to them so had taken it upon themselves to try to kill him with a hammer. Fortunately for Stevie they failed but in the process they destroyed Stevies optic nerves leaving him blind.
Jane goes on to say that the remaining eight dogs that she has adopted came into her care as their previous owners weren’t able to care for them any longer.
I’m sure that you’ll all agree that the above makes for sickening reading. So many of these greyhounds suffered either directly or indirectly at the hands of the Racing Industry and all of these cases are from 2009 up to and including 2020 with the most recent cases clearly indicating that there is still a massive problem within the Industry contrary to their protestations of improvements in the welfare and treatment of the racing greyhound from cradle to grave.
As Jane quite rightly says
“I abhor the exploitation of dogs (indeed any animals) in any shape or form and am well aware that the betting industry’s multi million pound profits are chief drivers for horse and dog racing..and have never understood how these are allowed to be self regulating, in the face of all the evidence of animal cruelty”
We would like to thank Jane on behalf of all the greyhounds that she adopted and covered expensive veterinary bills for. Thank you for being there for them.
The greyhound racing industry have shown us time and time again that they are not to be trusted regarding their empty promises about the welfare of the dogs, and that is why we at the Alliance Against Greyhound Racing feel that seeking a total ban is the only way to protect these sentient souls from the atrocities bestowed upon them in the name of entertainment.
The survivors:
