Other Campaigns

PAWING recently had the opportunity to interview Tony Peters, co-founder of campaign group Greyhound Action to find out why a ‘night at the dogs’ is condemning greyhounds to death. Here’s the full shocking interview:

What gave you the idea to start Greyhound Action? My wife, Louise, and I have always had a soft spot for greyhounds, so after we got together, it wasn't long before we adopted one. We then got involved with greyhound rescue - fostering, home-checking and transporting dogs to rescue centres - and through this learned about the terrible plight of greyhounds caused by the dog racing industry.

Although there were quite a few people involved in greyhound rescue at the time, nobody was actually trying to solve the problem by campaigning to put an end to commercial dog racing, so, in 1997, we decided to form Greyhound Action to do this.

Surely the greyhound breeders and trainers you refer to are just bad apples - there must be some good ones? Obviously, there are some greyhound breeders and trainers who are worse than others, in terms of their treatment of the dogs, but there is a sense in which they are all bad, as they are all part of an industry which is responsible for the putting to death of many thousands of greyhounds every year.

Having said that, there are some breeders and trainers, who genuinely love greyhounds, that have given up their involvement in the racing industry and become supporters of Greyhound Action, after they came to realise the horrific extent of what is going on.

What’s wrong with the odd night out at the dogs with your mates or work colleagues? A night at the dogs puts money into the coffers of the greyhound racing industry and helps it to keep going, together with all the suffering and slaughter that entails. Most people who go for the odd night out at greyhound racing are, like most members of the public, fond of dogs, and are horrified once they learn about the plight of the greyhounds. Thus educating such people to boycott the dog tracks is a vital part of our campaign.

Doesn't the Greyhound racing industry arrange homes for all retired greyhounds? The Retired Greyhound Trust, which is a rescue connected to the dog racing industry, claims to find homes for about 4,500 of the approx. 10,000 greyhounds that "retire" from racing every year (although many greyhound protection campaigners dispute this figure). Others are found homes by independent rescues and some are kept by trainers or racing "owners". However, the industry has admitted that as many as 2,000 ex-racing greyhounds are still put to death annually.

What is even worse is the plight of failed-racers, those dogs that don't even make it to the tracks because they are deemed unsuitable for the purpose. We estimate that about 15,000 young greyhounds (some of them just small puppies) are "put down" each year after failing to come up to the required standard for racing on British tracks.

Why not just start up a rescue to save every ex-racer? Because that would only be dealing with the symptoms of the problem, not the cause. Also rescues can only hope to save a minority of dogs discarded by the industry. The only way to bring the mass-slaughter of greyhounds to an end is to campaign against commercial dog racing.

In your time as co-founder of GA, has anything you have seen shocked you to the core? No, because I was already well aware of the appalling way in which some human beings treat animals, so nothing would surprise me with regard to that.

What has been your biggest success? With regard to individual tracks, I would say the closure of Walthamstow Stadium, the "flagship" of the British greyhound racing industry, which shut last August, due to poor attendances, after a concerted leafleting campaign by a small group of our local supporters.

In general, though, it's the continuing decline of the greyhound racing industry, with major tracks closing and attendances falling year after year.

What is the alternative to greyhound racing - and is it a success? In terms of a night out, there are loads of alternatives, which is one of the reasons the greyhound racing industry is in decline. In terms of gambling, it's betting on virtual (computerised) racing, which is becoming increasingly popular with punters and involves far fewer overheads for bookmakers than live greyhound racing.

For more information about how you can help the campaign to end greyhound racing, please visit www.greyhoundaction.co.uk