Those who blood dogs for fighting, coursing and track racing “are a menace to both man and beast” and must be reported to Gardai - read John Fitzgerald’s Letter to the Editor in the Irish Daily Mail...
"Blooding" of dogs
Letter to the Editor, Irish Daily Mail, 27th April 2022
I refer to media reports of attacks by dogs on humans and other animals over the past five years. County Councils nationwide have been inundated with complaints of scary incidents involving a range of breeds, some causing severe facial injuries.
The civic authorities have rightly emphasised the importance of keeping dogs on leads in public and generally under control.
While this is sound advice I would also draw attention to a factor that contributes to this unfortunate incidence of aberrant canine behaviour: the blooding of dogs for illegal sports such as dog fighting and badger baiting, and the legal pursuits of hare coursing and greyhound racing.
To whet their appetite for blood and thus supposedly enhance their performance in the baiting pits, on the racing track or in coursing, dogs are deliberately fed captive live animals including hares, rabbits, birds and even cats.
Last year a disturbing incident in a County Cork housing estate that showed just how low some humans will sink: Children witnessed men releasing cats from a cage to be ripped apart by greyhounds. One cat was pregnant and onlookers managed to save some of the kittens that were prematurely born due to this sickening act.
But blooding is rarely conducted in public places, the organisers being highly secretive in their activities.
Dogs exposed to such “training” are hardly likely to be well disposed.
And we must not blame dogs for man’s inhumanity. People who set one animal against another for fun or sport need to be restrained as much as the dogs that they whip into a frenzy of bloodlust.
Anyone with knowledge of blooding should report it to the Gardai immediately. The heartless perpetrators are a menace to both man and beast.
John Fitzgerald,
Callan, Co Kilkenny
ACTION ALERT
Blooding is illegal in Ireland. If you have any information on blooding activities, please contact the Gardai.
Phone Garda Confidential – 1800 666 111
Find contact details for Garda stations
https://www.garda.ie/en/contact-us/station-directory/
SEE ALSO
“Horrendous”: Pregnant cat killed by hunters blooding dogs
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2021/05/20/horrendous-pregnant-cat-killed-by-hunters-blooding-dogs/
Blooding in the Irish greyhound industry
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/blooding-in-the-irish-greyhound-industry/
Greyhound blooding in ireland
https://youtu.be/q33yiORJfXs
Greyhound industry cruelty: Hares’ legs broken outside track before blooding
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2018/05/29/greyhound-industry-cruelty-hares-legs-broken-outside-track-before-blooding/
Barbaric Blooding: “I was offered hares and rabbits at Irish greyhound tracks”
https://youtu.be/86zh07UmPm4
“Free to Good Home” cats used in illegal blooding
https://youtu.be/r7f4TGccmvc
How cats suffer in Ireland’s nasty greyhound industry
https://youtu.be/qBQuxqVJ754