Disturbing video footage has surfaced showing a greyhound being carried away injured after suffering a bad fall at a track.
The greyhound, named Lowtown Twilight, stumbled and fell at the start of a race at Newbridge Stadium and was unable to get back up again.
After the race finished, the 4-year-old dog was lifted up and removed from the track. The footage shows him being brought into a trackside building where injured greyhounds either receive veterinary treatment or are killed.
The video was filmed by a member of Greyhound Rescue Association of Ireland (GRAI) on 21 December 2018 during a race at the County Kildare stadium.
The booklet for the race meeting described Lowtown Twilight as an “experienced fellow that has met with trouble in recent starts”, adding “a fast start vital to chances”.
Irish Greyhound Board records for Lowtown Twilight show that it was his last ever race. He was killed at Newbridge track that day. IGB injury and death records show that the one greyhound injured at Newbridge stadium in December 2018 was “put to sleep”. The injury suffered was to the shoulder, the records reveal.
Previously, between June 2016 and his final night in December 2018, Lowtown Twilight was entered into 47 races at Newbridge and Mullingar tracks, winning €2,283 for his owner (including €30 for the unfinished final race). Ten months before his death, the Leinster Leader reported that he had been announced locally as a 2017 “Greyhound of the Year”.
He is one of many victims at Newbridge track. In the past five years alone, at least 81 greyhounds suffered injuries there and 33 were killed by a vet, sickening Irish Greyhound Board statistics show. In the same period at tracks around the country, 1,891 greyhounds suffered injuries and 618 were killed. The Irish Greyhound Board figures are based on “reported” injuries and deaths, suggesting that the actual number could be even higher. They do not include the greyhounds injured at tracks, taken away and later killed elsewhere.
Thousands more are killed if they don’t make the grade. As revealed in the "RTE Investigates: Greyhounds running for their lives" documentary last June, around 6,000 greyhounds are mercilessly killed every year simply because they are not fast enough. It included shocking scenes of dogs being delivered to a knackery where they were shot in the head and dumped in a skip. One shot dog was seen writhing on the ground in agony as his merciless owner drove away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM
INJURIES AND DEATHS AT NEWBRIDGE STADIUM
2019: 16 injuries, 8 deaths
2018: 16 injuries, 8 deaths
2017: 17 injuries, 4 deaths
2016: 21 injuries, 6 deaths
2015: 11 injuries, 7 deaths
REPORTED GREYHOUND INJURIES AND DEATHS AT IRISH TRACKS
2019: 332 injuries. 112 deaths
2018: 353 Injuries. 121 Deaths
2017: 357 Injuries. 124 Deaths
2016: 427 Injuries. 139 Deaths
2015: 422 Injuries. 122 Deaths
Find out more about Greyhound Rescue Association of Ireland at
https://grai.ie/
https://www.facebook.com/grai.ie/
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. A RED C opinion poll commissioned by the Irish Council Against Blood Sports found that a two-thirds majority want an end to state grants to greyhound racing. 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 and back a ban on cruel greyhound racing
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
TELL SPONSORS TO STOP THEIR SPONSORSHIP.
Please get in contact with Glanbia and ask it to permanently end all sponsorship/support of greyhound racing.
Jim Bergin
CEO, Glanbia
Glanbia House,
Kilkenny, Ireland
Telephone: +353 (0)56-777 2200
Email: corporatecomms@glanbia.com, info@gainanimalnutrition.com
Tweet to: @GlanbiaPlc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GAINpetnutrition/
Appeal to the Kerry Group (the company behind Pure sunflower/soya spread, Dairygold, LowLow, etc) to stop sponsoring greyhound racing.
Kerry Group
Phone: +353 (0)66 718 2000
Prince’s Street, Tralee, Co. Kerry
Email VIA: https://www.kerrygroup.com/help/contact-form/
Please sign and share petitions
Stop supporting the cruel greyhound industry
https://www.change.org/p/stop-supporting-the-cruel-greyhound-industry
GAA: Stop club fundraisers at greyhound tracks
https://www.change.org/p/gaa-stop-club-fundraisers-at-greyhound-tracks
Tell Gain Pet Nutrition to Stop Sponsoring Greyhound Racing
https://www.change.org/p/jimtracy-glanbia-ie-tell-gain-pet-nutrition-to-stop-sponsoring-greyhound-racing