Congratulations to Conor Ryan, Frank Shouldice and the RTE Investigates team on winning a well-deserved award for “Greyhounds Running for Their Lives”, a documentary which shocked the nation when it was broadcast on RTE 1 last June.
The programme picked up the “Best Current Affairs” Torc Award for Excellence on Thursday night (11 June) at the 2020 Celtic Media Festival which was streamed online from Glasgow.
The disturbing documentary exposed the horrors of greyhound racing in Ireland, revealing that 6,000 dogs are killed every year simply because they are not fast enough to win races. The damning details had been kept hidden by the Irish Greyhound Board.
Viewers were horrified to witness secretly filmed footage of unwanted greyhounds being delivered to knackeries 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 collar was removed from his neck and returned to a merciless owner who took it and drove away.
The programme also highlighted the injuries and deaths at greyhound tracks and the illegal practice of doping dogs to make them run faster or slower to influence the outcomes of races. Also shown were greyhounds with their ears chopped off or burned with acid (to remove identity tattoos before being dumped) and the hellholes that await Irish greyhounds exported to China and Pakistan.
Cruel hare coursing was also exposed, prompting renewed calls for a ban on the bloodsport.
The Irish public was left shocked and disgusted by the documentary’s content. It sparked multiple protests outside tracks, the withdrawal of several sponsors and nationwide boycotts of tracks.
Appeals to politicians to bring greyhound racing to an end have continued to grow. Opinion polls conducted by RED C and TheJournal.ie confirmed that a majority want the Irish government to permanently stop the state grants which are keeping greyhound racing and its associated animal cruelty alive. Petitions urging the government to scrap the funding have been signed over 400,000 times.
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
ACTION ALERT
Contact Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and tell them to stop handing over millions of euros every year to greyhound racing and instead redirect the money into the health bodies, sports clubs, homeless charities, animal rescue centres and environmental groups crying out for support.
An Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar
Government Buildings,
Upper Merrion St, Dublin 2
Telephone: +353 (0)1-6194020
Email: taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie; leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: @LeoVaradkar
Leave a comment on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
Paschal Donohoe TD
Minister for Finance
Email: paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie; minister@per.gov.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1 6045810
Leave a comment on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/PaschalDonohoe/
Tweet to @Paschald
Contact Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour Party TDs and urge them to vote against any further funding for cruel greyhound racing
Fine Gael TDs
JohnPaul.Phelan@oireachtas.ie,Heather.Humphreys@oireachtas.ie,joe.carey@oireachtas.ie,david.stanton@oir.ie,colm.burke@oireachtas.ie,michael.creed@oireachtas.ie,Simon.Coveney@oireachtas.ie,joe.mchugh@oireachtas.ie,richard.bruton@oireachtas.ie,Eoghan.Murphy@oireachtas.ie,Paschal.Donohoe@oireachtas.ie,Alan.Farrell@oireachtas.ie,emer.higgins@oireachtas.ie,neale.richmond@oireachtas.ie,josepha.madigan@oireachtas.ie,colm.brophy@oireachtas.ie,leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie,jennifer.carrollmacneill@oireachtas.ie,Ciaran.Cannon@oireachtas.ie,hildegarde.naughton@oireachtas.ie,Brendan.Griffin@oireachtas.ie,bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie,Martin.Heydon@oireachtas.ie,charles.flanagan@oireachtas.ie,kieran.odonnell@oireachtas.ie,Patrick.O'Donovan@oireachtas.ie,peter.burke@oireachtas.ie,fergus.odowd@oireachtas.ie,alan.dillon@oireachtas.ie,michael.ring@oireachtas.ie,helen.mcentee@oireachtas.ie,damien.english@oireachtas.ie,frank.feighan@oireachtas.ie,paul.kehoe@oireachtas.ie,Simon.Harris@oireachtas.ie
Fianna Fail TDs
john.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie,niamh.smyth@oireachtas.ie,brendan.smith@oireachtas.ie,aindrias.moynihan@oireachtas.ie,michael.moynihan.td@oireachtas.ie,micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie,michael.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie,Charlie.McConalogue@oireachtas.ie,sean.haughey@oireachtas.ie,jim.ocallaghan@oireachtas.ie,darragh.obrien@oireachtas.ie,jack@jackchambers.ie,anne.rabbitte@oireachtas.ie,eamon.ocuiv@oireachtas.ie,james.lawless@oireachtas.ie,sean.ofearghail@oireachtas.ie,sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie,barry.cowen@oireachtas.ie,willie.odea@oireachtas.ie,niall.collins@oireachtas.ie,Robert.Troy@oireachtas.ie,dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie,thomas.byrne@oireachtas.ie,marc.macsharry@oireachtas.ie,jackie.cahill@oireachtas.ie,mary.butler@oireachtas.ie,james.browne@oireachtas.ie,jennifer.murnaneoconnor@oireachtas.ie,cathal.crowe@oireachtas.ie,james.oconnor@oireachtas.ie,padraig.osullivan@oireachtas.ie,christopher.osullivan@oireachtas.ie,paul.mcauliffe@oireachtas.ie,john.lahart@oireachtas.ie,cormac@cormacdevlin.ie,normafoley1@eircom.net,joe.flaherty@oireachtas.ie,Stephen.Donnelly@oireachtas.ie
Labour Party TDs
sean.sherlock@oireachtas.ie,aodhan.oriordain@oireachtas.ie,duncan.smith@oireachtas.ie,gerald.nash@oireachtas.ie,Alan.Kelly@oireachtas.ie,brendan.howlin@oireachtas.ie
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
SEE ALSO:
A RED C opinion poll shows that two out of every three Irish adults agree that the government should stop funding greyhound racing. https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/posts/2443708225744721
Greyhound injuries and deaths at Irish greyhound tracks
https://banbloodsports.wordpress.com/2019/03/27/greyhound-injuries-and-deaths-at-irish-greyhound-tracks/
IRISH GOVERNMENT GRANTS TO GREYHOUND RACING
2001 €11,777,583
2002 €13,613,163
2003 €12,837,200
2004 €13,382,800
2005 €13,670,000
2006 €14,012,000
2007 €14,572,000
2008 €15,257,000
2009 €13,625,600
2010 €11,852,800
2011 €11,460,000
2012 €11,258,000
2013 €11,004,000
2014 €10,844,000
2015 €13,600,000
2016 €14,800,000
2017 €16,000,000
2018 €16,000,000
2019 €16,800,000
2020 €16,800,000
Total: €273 Million (€0.273 Billion)
Source: Department of Agriculture