Save Greyhounds from China – more action needed from everyone

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY TO ALL YOUR GROUPS AND CONTACTS NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL INCLUDING ALL YOUR IRISH/ASIAN CONTACTS AND ALL ANTI-GREYHOUND RACING CAMPAIGNERS WORLDWIDE AND ALL WEBSITES, TWITTER, MYSPACE AND FACEBOOK FOR MAXIMUM PUBLICITY

CHINA CRISIS CAMPAIGN UPDATE

Say NO to greyhound racing going global- greyhounds seen in China-
please take action now to protect our greyhounds

Worldwide response needed to stop greyhound racing in China, a country
that has no animal welfare laws and uses dogs for human consumption!
Please forward this vital appeal to all your national and international contacts including all Asian and Irish contacts.

Please see full details and appeal below from ‘Greyhound Compassion’
in the UK. Please also see the attached article about the Irish
Greyhound Board trying to set up greyhound racing not only in China
but also in India and Europe! This is very alarming.

We must stop this. We will be sending out an additional appeal in the
new year about this but in the meantime please write politely to the
Chinese Embassy in the UK urging them not to allow this to go ahead.
Please ask the Chinese Embassy to view these website links for the
appalling plight of the racing greyhound-

http://www.grey2kusa.org/
www.greytexploitations.com

If greyhound racing is allowed to go global then there will
undoubtedly be a greyhound holocaust as thousands of these dogs in the
UK and other parts of the world are already being destroyed once they
are no longer profitable to their owners. It is unimaginable to think
what will happen to these innocent dogs once greyhound racing goes
global!

Many thanks for your support, every letter counts

Greyhound Crusaders/SWAP team UK

—– Original Message —–
From: greyhound compassion
Sent: Sunday, December 18, 2011 5:57 PM
Subject: Greyhounds in China

We have received a witness report of greyhound racing taking place at
Shanghai Wild Animal Park last October. The racing is called a
“performance” for the visitors along with horse, camel, ostrich and
cheetah “racing”. We do not know the origin of the greyhounds shown
in the photographs (courtesy of Animals Asia). The dogs may have come
from established racing in Macau or Australia. We do know that the
Bord na gCon was looking to export Irish greyhounds to China but the
Irish Ministry of Agriculture refused to approve the proposal last
May. After the Ministry of Agriculture’s rejection of the plan, the
Bord na gCon was looking to modify its idea to exclude the export of
greyhounds but to include the provision of Irish expertise in the
design, building and management of stadia, considered to be a great
business opportunity for the Irish greyhound industry.

An article in The Sunday Business Post, an Irish national publication,
on 27 November referred to the Bord na gCon being in advanced talks
about running greyhound racing abroad which are expected to progress
in 2012. Apparently, there are opportunities in other European
countries, China, India and other emerging markets.

Betting is illegal in China but apparently horse racing is springing
up and we suppose that illegal betting is only a short step away.
Chinese animal protection groups are opposed to the development of
greyhound racing in China on a national level. It would help their
position if we could register our opposition to greyhound racing (and
cheetah, horse, camel and ostrich racing for that matter!) with the
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China. Please consider sending a
letter along the following lines to the Embassy in your country:

Greyhound racing would not be a viable business prospect for a
prosperous emerging market such as the People’s Republic of China.
Greyhound racing in Ireland, the home of racing, is reliant on
government subsidies to survive.

Greyhound racing is connected with gambling and the ills associated
with it, an activity which is already illegal in the People’s Republic of China.

As a middle class develops in an emerging economy, they are more
likely to seek alternative and more sophisticated forms of entertainment.

The greyhound industry is responsible for thousands of surplus
greyhounds, which presents a significant animal welfare issue.

A respected nation would not want to have its international
reputation tarnished by the neglect of vast quantities of discarded
racing dogs. Dealing with this inordinate number of unwanted and
straying dogs would pose another enormous financial cost for the Republic.

The address to write to for the UK is:

Ambassador
His Excellency Liu Xiaoming
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
49- 51 Portland Place
London W18 1JL
UK

Websites: www.greyhoundaction.org.uk / www.actionforgreyhounds.co.uk>

If you would like to help protect other animals, as well as greyhounds, see http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/campaigns>

Please feel free to forward/crosspost/circulate this message.