Marion Fitzgibbon and John Mottern to speak at the 5th annual International Greyhound Welfare Conference
Despite the size of and the money involved in the greyhound racing industry, it has always been under the cloud for one reason or the other. There has been a significant decrease in spectatorship, decrease in the availability of dogs and even a decrease
in the number of racing tracks.
To address all these issues and other problems plaguing the industry, the 5th annual International Greyhound Welfare Conference will be held in Hopkinton on 30th and 31st July 2011.
The conference, hosted by American-European Greyhound Alliance and Greyhound Friends Inc. will start at 10am on the 30th and end at 5 pm on the 31st of July.
The aim of the conference will be to raise funds for the deteriorating industry, to counter the impact of the 15% cut in the industry’s budget this year.
The conference will address a broad spectrum of issues ranging from the expansion of the industry in some parts of the globe to the contraction of the industry in others.
In Canada, USA and even Europe, interest in the sport is fading fast.
Race attendance in the U.K for example has fallen from 50million a year to just 2million last year.
Moreover, in regions such as Asia and South America the industry is growing. This growth of the industry requires meticulous planning, research, legislation, and most importantly funds and all of this will be much easier if discussed at a forum such as this.
What is an even bigger problem for the industry is that in many countries and even some states of the U.S, the sport has been banned because some see it as a breach of animal rights.
Bans are under way in many other states and so it is imperative that the future greyhounds be discussed after these bans are in place.
This issue on the agenda is, according to the Greyhound Project president, Michael McCann, that we need to know what to do next once greyhound racing becomes ‘less acceptable’.
This year’s views hail from a number of different countries including Ireland, Spain, England, Canada, England and the U.S.
The prominent speakers this year are Marion Fitzgibbon and John Mottern, both of whom are associated with the American-European Greyhound Alliance, and Louise Coleman, director of Greyhound Friends Inc.
This conference will definitely be a stepping stone in the long journey of revival of the greyhound racing industry.
With big names and an even bigger agenda it is likely that this event will lead to major breakthroughs in the industry and will set a precedent for other conferences to follow.
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