Greyhounds need homes
Gazette & Herald
17th January 2008
www.gazetteandherald.co.uk
Letter of the Week
Lucy Buckland's article about greyhounds needing homes on December 27 highlighted the commendable work of Dave Garland, who rehomes retired racing greyhounds.

However, it is a great shame that the article was also used to propagate fiction about what happens to greyhounds when they retire from racing. Several of Mr Garland's quotes were offensive and misrepresentative of the vast majority of people in greyhound racing who love their dogs.

The fact is that, when their racing life is over, most will live out a happy retirement.

About 11,000 dogs retire from official greyhound racing each year. Of these, over 4,000 are rehomed by the Retired Greyhound Trust - twice as many as five years ago. At least a further 3,000 find homes either with their owners, their trainer or through other rehoming charities. Some of the others will continue their careers on independent tracks or will return to their native Ireland. Some are euthanased, because, for example, they are temperamentally unsuitable for rehoming or for health reasons. The rules lay down that this be done by a registered vet and anyone doing otherwise risks a ban from the sport and even prosecution.

Your article does serve to highlight one important point; that Mr Garland or a branch of the Retired Greyhound Trust (www.retiredgreyhounds. co.uk) can fix you up with a low-maintenance greyhound who will be your faithful, friendly companion for life.

Peter Laurie
British Greyhound Racing Board
Warwick Row
London

Greyhound and Lurcher Welfare Rescue
Bungalow Park
Bradenstoke
Chippenham SN15 4EP
Tel: +44(0)1249 890178 or mobile 07931 834283
www.glwr.org.uk.
E-mail: info@glwr.org.uk.
Greyhound and Lurcher Welfare and Rescue was set up following the closure of the Glastonbury Racetrack. We were concerned that greyhounds and lurchers which were seen by trainers as no longer "useful" might be put to sleep, and we wanted to offer a real alternative to this. We collect the unwanted dogs from the trainers and care for them until new "forever" homes can be found for them. At the moment, we concentrate on the Wiltshire, Somerset and Dorset areas, as this tends to be the catchment area for the Glastonbury Racetrack dogs. As many of our dogs come from the racing industry, we are saddened and angered that many thousands of unwanted racing greyhounds are destroyed each year when they have finished racing. Most of these dogs are only around 3 or 4 years old, and would have most of their lives still in front of them. We, and other greyhound rescues, can save only a tiny fraction of these dogs, and we at GLWR do not therefore support the greyhound racing industry.