An ad banner for sports clothing and equipment retailer, Cummins Sports, has been removed from Curraheen Park greyhound track, following an ICABS action alert.
The banner advertising the Cork company was taken down this week.
Also removed was an article from the company’s website in which an individual was quoted as suggesting that a losing greyhound be shot in the head. The article, included in a “sports photo archive” section of the site, recalled an encounter around sixty years ago when, after a greyhound lost a race, a man suggested that a cure for the greyhound’s “slight flaw” was “just a little bit of lead [from a gun] in the left ear”.
This is the second ad banner to be removed from Curraheen Park stadium this month.
Previously, Heineken Ireland responded to an ICABS appeal and acted to have a Murphy’s Irish Stout trackside ad taken down. In our correspondence to the company, we highlighted the cruelty and killing in greyhound racing and pointed out that Curraheen Park is one of the worst tracks in Ireland for dog injuries and deaths.
In the past five years alone, 126 greyhounds suffered injuries there and 47 were killed by a track vet. Among the victims was a dog who died of a “suspected heart attack”.
The horrors of greyhound racing were exposed in the award-winning "RTE Investigates: Greyhounds running for their lives" documentary which revealed that around 6,000 dogs are killed every year simply because they are not fast enough to win. It included shocking scenes of greyhounds being delivered to knackeries to be shot in the head. One dog was seen writhing on the ground in agony as his merciless owner drove away. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM
The Irish public is disgusted at the revelations, which have sparked ongoing protests outside tracks and calls for a ban on greyhound racing. Opinion polls conducted by RED C and TheJournal.ie show that a majority want the government to permanently end the state grants which are keeping greyhound racing and its associated animal cruelty alive. Petitions urging the government to stop the funding have been signed over 400,000 times.
An ever growing list of companies are rejecting greyhound racing, including Heineken/Murphys, Dublin Bus, Air France, Eir Sport, Lonely Planet, Tesco Ireland, Toyota Ireland, Electric Ireland, Applegreen, Groupon, Voucher Cloud, Barry's Tea, FBD Insurance, Botanica International, Hyde Irish Whiskey, Thomas Cook/Jet Tours, Galway Crystal, Permanent TSB, Wilton Shopping Centre, Le Guide Irlande, Trip101, Maldron Hotels, Clayton Hotels, North Star Hotel Dublin, Metropole Hotel Cork, Treacy's Hotel Waterford, etc.
ACTION ALERT
Say NO to cruel greyhound racing - don't attend races or fundraisers/stag and 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 Finance Minister and the leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour (who support the grants every year) to stop the funding and back a ban on greyhound racing
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
Micheál Martin
Leader, Fianna Fail
Email: micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie
Phone: 021-432 0088
Leinster House: 01–618 3000
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michealmartintd/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/@MichealMartinTD
Leo Varadkar
Leader, Fine Gael
Telephone: 01-619 4020
Email: leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie; finegael@finegael.ie
Tweet to: http://www.twitter.com/@LeoVaradkar
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeoVaradkar
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.
GAIN ad banners continue to be displayed at greyhound tracks. Please get in contact with Glanbia and ask it to stop advertising its brand at tracks where dogs suffer and die.
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
Irish Government: Stop Giving Millions of Euro to Cruel Greyhound Racing
https://www.change.org/p/irish-government-stop-giving-millions-of-euro-to-cruel-greyhound-racing
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