NZ: Lynn Charlton: Greyhound racing is cruel too

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From nzherald.co.nz

Lynn Charlton: Greyhound racing is cruel too

Thursday 9 August 2012

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File photo / Brett Phibbs

By Lynn Charlton

Sir Bob Jones is correct
<http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=10825051>
that we are making little progress outside of fashion (whales and elephants)
with animal welfare, though the Act is under review later this year and
welfare groups are preparing submissions to give it more 'teeth'.

After contemplating fostering a greyhound, I decided to look into the
greyhound racing industry with the goal of writing an article. What I have
found is in line with The Greyhound Protection League of New Zealand and
multiple other greyhound welfare advocacy groups worldwide.

Greyhound racing is industrialised animal cruelty, without a doubt. In each
and every race dogs are pitted against each other to chase a fluffy cloth.
Their natural capacity for speed accompanies the love all dogs have for
exercise, and it is this that is exploited.

Many do not make it home as eager dogs maim and trip each other, collide and
'come together', 'jostling and tightening', get shunted sideways at 60km per
hour, blow their toes, tear muscles, suffer severe cramping, tear themselves
on lure cogs, and fracture hocks and legs on oval tracks that are good for
viewing, but produce worse outcomes for the dogs. Euthanasia trackside
follows.

Each race day reveals a litany of injuries requiring stand downs of days or
weeks, sometimes months. In mid-July, 3 dogs were euthanized on 3
consecutive days for breaks and fractures. Yesterday TAKING ORDERS was
galloped on top of. This was not an ordinary fall, a relatively common
event. Her injuries were such that she was euthanized.

It is unimaginable what those injuries must have been. Last week GUNNA PARTY
made firm contact with the outside rail i.e. smashed into the rail at high
speed, and such were his injuries he too was killed trackside by lethal
injection. He died this way so humans could have fun.

Greyhound racing is an animals-as-entertainment industry, no different from
circus and rodeo. Supporters of all these industries claim the animals are
well-off, live gorgeous lives, and love what they do. When the animals are
burnt out or will not, or cannot comply, they are spat out and replaced by
new and younger animals until they too meet the same fate.

Proponents claim to love the dogs. It is racing they love. It is not unusual
to see a trainer or owner in tears in the vet's room when their dog, having
suffered a snapped leg at 60km is given a lethal injection, only to see that
same person a few moments later place another dog in the starting boxes to
run another race. Go figure.

Human capacity to rationalize and justify cruelty is based on being
motivated by the gains involved, and an inability to face the unpalatable
truth. Greyhound racing is akin to dog-fighting in that dogs are left to
injure each other and themselves, purely for the purpose of gambling,
entertainment and profit.

An estimated 1,000 greyhounds are added to the New Zealand greyhound
population every year, 700 from breeding, and 300 imported. Only 100 or so
ex racing dogs are rehomed annually through GAP (Greyhounds As Pets) and a
few are rehomed privately.

Many other dogs disappear at around 3, 4 or 5 years of age, the top age for
a racing dog. The Greyhound Protection League estimates there are over
10,000 missing dogs. While the industry denies this and does not want to
provide figures for what they claim are happily retired dogs living on
people's couches, the CEO of Greyhound Racing New Zealand was recently
quoted as saying, For various reasons there may be dogs that get put down
because people don't have any use for them.

The industry will not come clean on this culling rate for surplus-to-need
dogs bred and brought into New Zealand for gambling, because it knows there
is something wrong with it. Gambling is a huge problem in NZ and a huge
income earner for those profiting from it and they don't want to risk losing
profits, and greys are just the pokies on legs.

Some say hound racing is no different to horse racing. Horse racing at least
provides riders to steer horses away from colliding with the rail and each
other. Imagine the outcry if horses were herded together on a track and
encouraged to race at full tilt, racing up the back of each other's legs,
pulling each other to the ground, shunting each other sideways. It would be
barbaric. Imagine if cattle and sheep were placed in a similar position,
pelting around an oval track injuring themselves and other animals while
humans stood around watching for amusement as they broke their legs. There
would be prosecutions and public outrage. Yet we do this to greys.

Greys slip quietly to their death in this deadly industry, unprotected and
unnoticed. Animal welfare authorities and the law have done nothing for
them, and there will be other dogs killed this month, August, in exactly the
same ways.

Many punters are animal lovers. Many will have dogs at home. Most animal
lovers protect their animals from harm. Some may like to take another look
at what they're buying into.

As we in the West re-evaluate how we've treated animals and more and more of
us make a stand, we will one day look back on the days of greyhound racing
and wonder what on earth we were thinking.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak up for these forgotten dogs,

* Lynn Charlton is a psychotherapist of Western Springs.