A big THANK YOU to Air France for removing Shelbourne Park greyhound stadium from 44 of its international websites.
Responding to an appeal from the Irish Council Against Blood Sports in which we highlighted the suffering and deaths of greyhounds in racing, the airline deleted all references to the track from its Dublin Tourist Guide pages, stating “we do not support animal cruelty as a practice.”
The pages featuring the track were deleted from individual Air France websites covering countries in all of the airline’s regions (Europe, America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East), i.e. Angola, Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia & Myanmar, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, USA and Vietnam.
Air France’s compassionate move is expected to lead to a significant future reduction in the already dwindling number of tourists that had been visiting Shelbourne Park.
In our appeal to airline management, we referred to Tourism Ireland’s policy of not promoting greyhound racing due to the cruelty and killing and fears that the activity damages Ireland’s international reputation. We also pointed out that Shelbourne Park is one of the worst tracks in Ireland - at least 167 greyhounds suffered injuries there and 39 were killed by a track vet over the past five years alone. Among the victims were a greyhound who collapsed after a race and died of a heart attack and another who was carried away bleeding with a leg bone “popped out”. At tracks around Ireland in the same period, 1,813 greyhounds suffered injuries and 592 were killed. This does not include the greyhounds injured at tracks and later killed elsewhere.
These deaths are just the tip of the iceberg. As revealed by “RTE Investigates: Greyhounds Running For Their Lives” last June, around 6,000 greyhounds are killed every year simply because they are not fast enough to win. The documentary included horrifying scenes of greyhounds delivered to knackeries to be shot in the head. One shot dog was seen writhing on the ground in agony as his merciless owner drove away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM
Air France is one of the world’s largest airlines, carrying more than 52 million passengers last year. It becomes the latest in a growing list of companies rejecting cruel greyhound racing, including Eir Sport, Dublin Bus, Lonely Planet, Tesco Ireland, Toyota Ireland, Electric Ireland, Applegreen, Barry's Tea, FBD Insurance, Hyde Irish Whiskey, Thomas Cook/Jet Tours, Trip101, Botanica International, Galway Crystal, Wilton Shopping Centre, etc.
Find out more about Air France and its global network (which includes Dublin and Cork Airports) at https://www.airfrance.com
ACTION ALERT
Say NO to cruel greyhound racing - don't attend races or fundraisers/hen parties/office parties at greyhound tracks.
STOP THE STATE FUNDING FOR GREYHOUND RACING
Another €16.8 million of scarce public funds has been approved for greyhound racing for 2020. Since 2001, greyhound racing has received more than a quarter of a billion euros of taxpayers' money. Please contact your local TDs and demand that they vote against this funding. Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/33
Urge the leaders of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour (who back the grants every year) to stop the funding.
Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01-619 4020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Leave a comment on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie
Phone: 021-432 0088
Leinster House: 01–618 3000
Leave a comment on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Alan Kelly TD
Leader, Labour Party
Tel: 067 34190
Email: alan.kelly@oir.ie
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alankellytd/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/alankellylabour
Watch “RTE Investigates: Greyhounds Running For Their Lives” 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
Please support our campaign with a donation
https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports