Blue Cross welcomes government inquiry into greyhound racing
Leading pet charity Blue Cross welcomes news from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee that it is to launch an inquiry into the welfare of greyhounds used for racing.
EFRA’s announcement yesterday follows years of campaigning from the charity to improve the health and welfare of racing and ex-racing greyhounds.
Blue Cross, which cares for over 40,000 sick, injured and homeless pets every year, recommends the following improvements for the greyhound racing industry:
1. One system of statutory regulation: Blue Cross would like to see one system of regulation that covers all tracks. The charity also calls for Local Authority officers who inspect tracks to be properly trained on issues relating to welfare as well as more frequent inspections of tracks.
2. Transparency from the industry: More transparency around data kept to record the number of dogs euthanised, accidents and injuries at tracks and data relating to retiring greyhounds. Each year it is estimated that there may be as many as 2000 dogs unaccounted for when considering the numbers entering and leaving the sport. Without transparency from the industry it is impossible to say what is happening to these dogs.
3. UKAS accreditation to ensure compliance with high standards of welfare at trainer and owner kennels: The Greyhound Regulations 2010 and the UKAS accreditation that sits alongside only cover the welfare of greyhounds whilst they are at the track, but greyhounds spend the majority of their time at training kennels and those premises should be subject to the same level of rigour when it comes to maintaining high levels of welfare standards for the dogs whilst there.
4. Mandatory drug testing: Sadly drugs are still used by some unscrupulous trainers and owners to speed up or slow down dogs. Blue Cross would like to see a much more robust system of mandatory drug testing at all tracks.
Steve Goody, Blue Cross Deputy Chief Executive, said: “This is a really positive step for the future welfare of greyhounds and we are pleased that EFRA is launching an inquiry into this issue. Although the welfare of racing greyhounds has improved over the past few years, there are still many areas that need to be changed to ensure the dogs’ welfare is protected.”
Blue Cross will be submitting written evidence by the deadline of Monday 19 October 2015.
