A group of nine greyhounds have escaped death in Tipperary after an animal rescue charity saved them from a trainer who was preparing to have them all destroyed.
In a Facebook post, Roscrea-based The Haven Rescue outlined how they were contacted by the greyhound trainer two weeks ago. He asked if they could take six dogs in and was told to hold on to them for a while longer, while the rescue centre organised neutering (at their own expense) prior to rehoming efforts.
The trainer was unwilling to wait. He made a last-minute call to them to say that he had "made an appointment for all of them to be euthanized and disposed of from his yard early this morning".
When representatives of The Haven Rescue arrived to collect the six dogs, there were nine waiting to be "gotten rid of".
They "quietly and quickly" loaded each one into their van and took them away to safety.
"All 9 are related - mothers and sons, brothers and sisters, and grannies and grandchildren, family," the charity has reported. "All of them this evening would have been lying on the knackery's floor to be rendered into waste. Sorry if this image distresses some people, but this is the reality of what we are facing daily and our volunteers are currently broken."
The group is appealing for donations to cover the costs of caring for the nine dogs. They say that
- All the greyhounds will need dentals as their teeth are rotten
- They will all need neuturing
- Some will need X-rays as they are lame
- They have all been wormed and deflead at a cost of €254.00
To support the fundraiser, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/haven-rescue-veterinary-bill
"Tonight all 9 sleep well on comfy bedding. They are safe but all across Ireland tonight, there are greyhounds that won't be so lucky that will meet their fates in the next days, weeks and months. And this plays on our minds greatly."
The Irish Greyhound Board has announced a so-called "Covid-19 Greyhound Care Payment Scheme", comprising "a payment of €2 per day in respect of each active greyhound currently registered on the IGB’s Racing Management System". The paltry payment applies only to greyhounds who have been "raced or had an official trial at any IGB licenced [sic] greyhound track in the previous 42 days" and will not come into effect until 9th April. According to the IGB, the €2-per-day scheme was put in place to ensure that "funding is available to the greyhound community to support the costs associated with the daily care of their greyhounds".
There are growing fears that nasty greyhound owners and trainers - who are already responsible for the killing of an average of 6,000 greyhounds every year - will destroy more and more dogs. As revealed in the shocking RTE Investigates documentary last June, thousands of greyhounds are mercilessly destroyed every year in Ireland because they are not fast enough to win races. Viewers were shown horrifying scenes of greyhounds being delivered to a knackery to be shot in the head, dogs with their ears cut off or burned with acid (to remove identity tattoos before being abandoned) and shot greyhounds dumped in a quarry. One greyhound was seen writhing on the ground in agony at a knackery as his merciless owner drove away.
Watch the documentary on the RTE Player https://www.rte.ie/player/movie/rt%C3%A9-investigates-greyhounds-running-for-their-lives/104051751967 or on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM
Find out more about The Haven Rescue at https://www.facebook.com/theHavenRescu/