China eats greyhounds today, galgos tomorrow? Letters needed

Please see the Sunday Times UK article below. Greyhound Crusaders/SWAP team UK now need all our supporters globally to please write to the IGB (Irish Greyhound Board), the Irish Department of Agriculture and the ISPCA (Irish Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) to vehemently protest about this immediately! We’ve already voiced fears that Australian greyhounds end up as food in Far East Asia.Greyho

Please email the following people below to urge them to stop this horrific idea immediately, the fate of many Greyhounds lay in the hands of the Irish
Greyhound Board and the authorities that allow this to go ahead.

THIS MUST BE STOPPED NOW. We cannot emphasize how concerned we are to the
fate of these poor dogs.

Barry Coleman (head of Greyhound welfare at the Irish Greyhound Board)-
barry.coleman@igb.ie
Irish Greyhound Board public relations dept- pr@igb.ie
ISPCA -(The Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) –
info@ispca.ie
Department of Agriculture in Ireland- info@agriculture.gov.ie

Please also write to these associations to ask them to take urgent action to protect the greyhounds.

‘Dogs Trust’- clarissa.baldwin@dogstrust.org.uk
‘League Against Cruel Sports’- info@league.org.uk
‘PETA’- info@peta.org
‘WSPA’- wspa1@mailuk.custhelp.com
‘VIVA!- info@viva.org.uk
‘RSPCA’- Enqserv@rspca.org.uk

SUNDAY TIMES ARTICLE FEBRUARY 27TH 2011 (UK)

Chinese set to take away Irish dogs
But welfare groups are furious at plans to export greyhounds claiming that
animals too slow to win races are routinely slaughtered and even eaten
John Mooney
Published: 27 February 2011

Campaigners fear that racing animals will suffer in China

And they’re off … Bord na gCon, the Irish greyhound board, wants to export
dogs to China as part of an international expansion that could result in it
operating racing stadiums there.

The move is opposed by Irish animal welfare groups, which say other
countries refuse to sell greyhounds to China. Dogs too slow to win races are
routinely slaughtered and even eaten, they claim.

Attempts have been made to improve the image of greyhound racing but the
welfare of retired dogs continues to be a concern. It has been raised by
Joanna Lumley, the actress, and Richard Wilson, of One Foot in the Grave.
Sharon Ní Bheoláin, the RTE newsreader, and other public figures have also
campaigned about the welfare of the racing dogs.

Bord na gCon says Chinese officials visited Dublin this month to see how the
Irish greyhound-racing industry is run and regulated. A spokesman said the
board informed the Department of Agriculture, which regulates the transport
of greyhounds, about its expansion plans.

“As with any country we do not have any influence on the welfare standards
adopted in other countries, and these matters are more appropriately dealt
with by the country’s own legislative system,” the spokesman said.
The export of greyhounds was a matter for individuals and Bord na gCon, said
the department. “The board has informed us that they are exploring the
possibility of assisting with the establishment of greyhound racing in
China,” it said.

Ireland exports greyhounds to America, mainland Europe, Australia and
Pakistan, but animal-welfare societies want trading with China to be
prohibited. Orla Aungier, of the Dublin Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals, said China had a reputation for the ill-treatment of
wild and domestic animals.

“A number of countries which export greyhounds to China are already under
pressure to stop because dogs that do not race well are routinely killed,”
she said. “If Irish greyhounds are sent to China it would be almost
impossible to monitor their welfare. We are urging Bord na gCon to
reconsider their plans and to think about how devastating this move will be
for the welfare of Irish greyhounds.”

China is the main source of the 2m cats and dogs killed annually for their
fur, according to the Humane Society of the United States.

The reputation of the Irish greyhound racing industry was tarnished in the
1990s when images of starving and ill-treated dogs exported to Spain and
Italy appeared in the media. The Irish authorities stopped supporting the
Spanish trade.

Ní Bheoláin has urged greyhound breeders to think twice about sending dogs
to China. “I’d be extremely fearful of condemning any Irish animal to an
existence where their basic welfare requirements are routinely ignored.
Economic factors aside, we cannot as a civilised nation be seen to trade in
cruelty,” she said.

Ireland, as one of the world’s biggest exporters of greyhounds, must “
safeguard our reputation and start to set standards,” she added.
Greyhound racing is worth 500m euros a year to the Irish economy, according
to Bord na gCon. Greyhound exports are valued at 40m euros a year.

Animal-welfare groups have long criticised the practice of destroying
healthy dogs when too old to race. When a greyhound reaches three to five
years, it is considered too slow.

Greyhounds have also been destroyed after being injured while racing. Snip
Nua, a dog part-owned by Dara Ó Briain, the comedian, was put to sleep after
injuring itself in a collision with another greyhound.

Snip Nua was in Three Men go to Ireland, a television series with Ó Briain,
Rory McGrath and Griff Rhys Jones.

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www.greyhoundaction.org.uk