Help Save The Greyhounds Of Australia

When we think of cruelty to greyhounds and greyhound slaughter, we tend to think close to home. We think of the USA, UK and Europe. We may even look to the Middle East, but our focus should also be on Asia. No matter how bad we think the greyhound cruelty that goes one here is, I guarantee that it is ten times worse there.

Our gorgeous greyhounds are brutally tortured in the most horrific ways before being murdered without a thought. There is no regulation in Asia at all. However, the Asian countries cannot take all of the blame. Australia has to take some of it too.

Did you know Australia exports greyhounds to Asia? They do so knowing what happens to the poor creatures that are sent sailing to their death and yet they do nothing about it. However, there is a petition you can sign to voice your concern and outrage to the Australian government. It can be found here. Please click through and sign it. It will take but a moment.

This is the introduction to the petition, and it should give you a good idea of what goes on:

The Australian greyhound racing industry is shamelessly promoting and encouraging greyhound racing in Asia. At present greyhounds are being exported from Australia to Asia to places such as Korea, Vietnam and China for the purpose of racing/breeding with further plans to create networks of tracks throughout Cambodia and the Philippines. These are countries notorious for the barbaric torture and slaughter of dogs for human consumption. There is no hope or opportunity of rehoming greyhounds that are 'surplus' to requirements in Asia. As exposed by the media they are ending their days being butchered in the dog meat industry or thrown into landfills. At present this is the fate of Australian greyhounds in Asia.

Remembering Rusty...

Today is a special day, but for all of the wrong reasons as far as we and one particular beautiful greyhound is concerned. In fact, Friday 2nd May 2008 is four years to the day that Rusty died in the most horrific and brutal way. He was horribly tortured and left to die on a rubbish tip in the Welsh mountains.

A man out walking discovered his battered body on Fochriw Mountain in the Rhymney Valley. He heard whimpering and went to investigate. The sight that met him was horrific and is a sight that should never have happened. A greyhound was lying half-dead amongst the rubbish having shot in the head with a captive bolt pistol. Also, both of his ears had been hacked off so he could not be identified.

However, despite Rusty's heartbreaking injuries, he still wagged his tail at the man. A loving and sunny natured greyhound, Rusty could have been taken to a shelter and then adopted by the loving family he deserved. Instead, Rusty had to be put to sleep as a result of severe brain injury. He had been lying on the rubbish tip for at least 24 hours before he was discovered.

I am crying as I write this because no greyhound deserves this treatment. There are no words to describe what I feel, and yet some still deny that this goes on. Well it does, and Rusty was proof of that.

Believe it or not, it gets worse.



Andrew Gough, who was known as the ‘Greyhound Executioner’, was found guilty of this atrocious crime and was prosecuted by the RSPCA as a result. He was only given 6 months or the crime and was also banned from keeping animals for life. Disgustingly, 6 months was the maximum term that the cime carried.

During the trial, it came to light that Rusty's owner, John Hurley, and trainer, Mark Emmett, had paid Gough £10 to "dispose" of Rusty. Rusty's crime? He had picked up a toe injury and could no longer race and therefore no longer earn money for the two men, who cannot be human by any tretch of the imagination. Neither were held accountable for signing Rusty's death warrant because it was not illegal for an owner to arrange to have their dog put to death, no matter in what way it was to happen. Remember, he was not to be humanely put to sleep, which would have been bad enough because he was healthy. Instead, he was brutally murdered. He was left to die with horrific injuries that he did not deserve.

Rusty was not alone, nor will he be in the future. He is one of thousands of dogs that die in such a way every year.

Please remember Rusty and all of the other greyhounds that suffer similar fates in your prayers. Remember what beautiful animals they are. Raise your voice and make your disgust heard around the world. Together we can put up a fight for these animals, protect them as they cannot do themselves.

It is time the slaughter stopped once and for all.

Beautiful Greyhound Images On YouTube!

Greyhounds have undoubtedly become more popular as pets over the last few years, especially since awareness about the atrocities committed against them has rapidly increased. However, nowhere near as many greyhounds are being adopted as rescued and the awareness of this needs to be elevated still further.

There are some misguided beliefs out there that concern greyhounds. Some people believe them to be poor house pets. Others do not even consider them as pets because of their racing history. However, anyone that has ever owned one will know othewise. The greyhound is a perfect pet - lazy, laid back and loving, they would happily sleep, eat and cuddle all day long. Of course, not all of them get on with cats and other small animals but the majority of them are extremely clean and family oriented.

If you need proof of this, go to this fantastic video
link and watch the images there, courtesy of Greytexploitations. It really is worth a few minutes of your time! There's a whole host of other greyhound videos on there too so relax to a little greyhound love!

BREAKING NEWS: The Slaughter Of Healthy Greyhounds

News broke today of a practice that frankly made me feel sick as I read about it and I wanted to share it with all of you, not to make you feel sick but to make you angry, shocked and disgusted all at the same time. I have people messaging me every day stating that my views are misguided, personally attacking me for making up "facts" that are completely off the mark because very few greyhounds are slaughtered every year and those that are happen to be old and ill.

This is not the case and Daniel Foggo, a renowned investigative journalist, has proved it for me.

Foggo broke the story in The Times newspaper today that the Royal Veterinary College in England has a financial agreement with the Greyhound Clinic, located in Essex, England. The latter provides the bodies of healthy greyhounds for the RVC at £30 per body part. The RVC has a number of similar agreements with other vet practices, which ultimately means that hndreds if not thousands of greyhound are slaughtered every year for a profit of £30 each.

The RSPCA, not surprisingly, is horrified and has spoken out against the practce as well as launching an investigation.

Of course the information provided above is just the tip of the icebeg. There is much more in the article itself which can be found at this Times Online link. Please speak out, read the article and leave your comments here or elsewhere to show your outrage. We need voices now because otherwise nothing will ever change.

Annette Crosbie Speaks On The Greyhound Slaughter

British actress Annette Crosbie, best known for her role as Victor Meldrew's long-suffering wife in One Foot In The Grave, has been a campaigner for the rights of greyhounds for a long time now but her work is only just beginning to get recognised.

She first began to speak out when news broke a couple of year ago about a slaughterhouse in the North East of England. The owner was murdering thousands of retired racers every year. It was found that the majority of the hounds were completely healthy and the brute that ran the place was jailed as a result.

Ms Crosbie is a wonderful woman who deserves our applause and respect, as does everyone that works to help greyhounds in any way shape or form. Her latest public appeal for awareness can be found at Sky News by clicking on this link.

If you would like to read more about Ms Crobie's work then you can read a fantastic article about her here.

A Fantastic Petition Day!

I would just like to thank everyone that has signed the petition since I created it last year. It is really appreciated. We had an absolutely fantastic day today - over 60 people have signed it! Thank you to each and every one of you!

If you haven't already signed it and want to it can be accessed from the link above or by clicking on the petition on the left hand sidebar of this blog. Please sign it if you feel as strongly as I do and pass the link on to all of your friends. Also, if you have a blog, forum or social network profile, please pass it on via that. the link in full is http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-the-greyhound-slaughter.

Any efforts are greatly appreciated!

The British Government Response To A Petition

I recently received a response to a petition that I signed some time ago, which was actually the inspiration behind me starting up my own. The author had sent the petition to the British government and the official response can be found here.

However, here is a little excerpt:

"The most recent piece of legislation in this area is the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which came into effect on 6 April 2007. We believe this Act to be a milestone as it brings together and modernises welfare legislation relating to farmed and non-farmed animals, some of which dates from 1911.

The Act places a duty of care for the first time on those who own or are responsible for non-farmed animals. Therefore, it is now an offence to cause any commonly domesticated vertebrate animal unnecessary suffering. The Act also makes it an offence to fail to meet the welfare needs of any animal under the care of man. It will mean that, where necessary, those responsible for the enforcement of welfare laws can take action if an owner is not taking all reasonable steps to ensure the welfare of their animal, even if it is not currently suffering.

The Act also provides powers to regulate animal related activities, or update existing licensing schemes, through secondary legislation such as greyhound racing. Defra's preference is for the industry itself to continue to take responsibility for seeing that the regulations and any supporting code are enforced in those tracks that race under Rules set by the National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC). However, we fully understand the concerns as to whether the industry is fit for purpose in undertaking regulatory work. Defra ministers have met representatives of the industry and stressed that unless there is a much more modern, open and auditable approach by the industry, then Defra will use the new powers in the Animal Welfare Act to appoint an external, independent regulator."

Whilst some areas of the UK do practice what the above preaches, this is by no means the majority of the country. However, it does have to be said that the practices in the UK are better than those in some areas of the world.

There is still a long way to go and one petition won't change things overnight. I wish it could!