Life of a greyhound, during racing and its aftermath
Each greyhound rises to fame during the course of his racing career, but what happens after that?. Are these greyhounds adopted? Or left to suffer at the hands of fate?
The racing life of a greyhound is only 3 years at most. Many greyhounds only race for about 18 months.
The question is, since the average life of a greyhound is 12 years, once they stop racing , where do they go for the rest of their lives?
The Chairperson of Lancashire Retired Greyhound Trust, Sarah Horner, recently spoke that a good deal of owners and trainers of greyhounds dump them at the doorsteps of their branches.
Some even threaten to end the lives of their dogs if not taken in.
There has been profound speculation about the life of a greyhound after his/her career ends.
Some are left to go astray, dying in an accident while others are adopted by animal welfare organizations.
Once a greyhound stops racing, his future lies in his owner's hands. Some put their their hounds to sleep while others are more considerate and give them to charitable organizations, working for the welfare of greyhounds, such as Hersham Hounds, Greyhound
Welfare Inc, Greyhound Gap, Northants Greyhound Rescue to name a few.
The BRGB (Britsh Racing Greyhound Board) has launched an inquiry about greyhounds who suffer injuries at the track.
Unfortunately, there is no fixed number regarding the greyhounds going awry but estimates show that no less than 9,000 dogs cease to race each year and probably the number is greater than this figure.
At the 1988 World Greyhound Federation Conference, a veterinary surgeon told that he has to kill 9 greyhounds each week, due to their inability to race. This could be due to their age, performance or injuries.
Another alarming fact is that statistics imply that there is on average on vet supervising 450 greyhounds!
The pressure to race according to the standards expected of these hounds can endanger a greyhound's performance and in some cases also his life.
The welfare organizations try and rehome some greyhounds or keep them with themselves, giving them vaccination, dental care and other assistance.
They also hold social walks and fundraisers for greyhounds' welfare and they arrange meetings between families interested in adopting greyhounds.
The greyhounds are handed over to the organizations by the police, veterinary surgeons, owners or dog wardens.
Not all owners and trainers are cruel and merciless about their wards. Some seek welfare organizations' assistance to rehome greyhounds that are unable to race such as the Grey Hound Rescue West Of England.
There have been numerous success stories about a greyhound finding the perfect home and a family finding a pet they adore.
Apart from welfare organizations, there are also some stadiums which arrange adoption for greyhounds after they stop racing such as the Wimbledon Retired Greyhound Trust of the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium
in collaboration with Hersham Hounds.
Speculating about greyhound welfare, there has been a significant criticism against greyhound racing as a sport.
Some sources say that greyhounds suffer from broken limbs, broken neck, paralysis and at times cardiac arrest when pushing to hard to finish a race.
In Las Vegas, greyhound racing was banned altogether after two seasons in 1982 and the state of Nevada legislatively banned greyhound racing in 1997.
In the United States, public awareness about the cruelties inflicted on greyhounds has resulted in closure of twenty six dog tracks.
GREY2K USA is the largest greyhound welfare organization in the United States. In Boston, they have put an end to greyhound racing despite ballot initiative process and passed legislative bills to prohibit dog racing in Rhode Island and Hertfordshire.
Under section (9) of the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it states: “A person commits an offence if he does not take such steps as are reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which he is responsible are met to the extent required
by good practice”. Subsection (2e) covers specifically the need for an animal “to be protected from pain, suffering (and) injury”.
Hence, some people use this reference to protest against greyhound racing altogether.
Therefore, there are two sides or viewpoints held by people ragarding greyhound racing.
Neither are greyhounds left to brutality and cruelty of the world altogether, nor are they provided with great homes and care once the fame game gets over for them.
The important thing is to maintain a check and balance system on and off the track, so that these beautiful creatures dont go to waste once they have served their owners.
The views expressed by the writer are his own and do not reflect the editorial policy of
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