A greyhound who lost her life at Youghal stadium was killed after suffering a shoulder injury, it has emerged.
Sickening details of the death have come to light this week following a Dail Question from Joan Collins TD (Independents 4 Change, Dublin South Central).
Deputy Collins queried the Minister for Agriculture about Greyhound Racing Ireland statistics which showed that in October last year at Youghal track, one greyhound suffered an injury and two greyhounds were destroyed (suggesting that one of the greyhounds destroyed was injured and the other was not injured).
In a direct reply to Deputy Collins, Greyhound Racing Ireland (GRI) maintained that its own statistics are incorrect and that one greyhound, not two, was destroyed at Youghal track that month.
“Rásaíocht Con Éireann [Greyhound Racing Ireland] can confirm that in October 2020 one greyhound was injured while racing at Youghal greyhound stadium and only one greyhound was euthanised by the attending veterinary surgeon in that month,” a GRI representative stated. “ An incorrect figure of two greyhounds having been euthanised at the Youghal greyhound stadium in October 2020 was inadvertently used within the previously published racing injury statistics for 2020. Rásaíocht Con Éireann will now amend this report to show the correct figure.”
The spokesperson went on to reveal that “the greyhound which was euthanised under the care of a veterinary surgeon in October 2020 injured a shoulder and the injury occurred on 28th October 2020”.
The greyhound who was destroyed at Youghal track is believed to have been either Whitty Giddy or Congress Saphire - the only two greyhounds used in racing that night who did not appear at any subsequent races.
Video footage on the GRI website shows 22-month-old Whitty Giddy being knocked over at the first bend. She “did not finish” what was her first and final race. Congress Saphire, meanwhile, finished third in a separate race and details show that she has not been raced since.
The injured greyhound who was killed is one of many victims at Youghal stadium. Over the past six years alone, at least 53 greyhounds suffered injuries there and 27 were killed by a track vet, Greyhound Racing Ireland statistics show. At tracks around Ireland in the same period, at least 2,146 greyhounds were injured and 715 killed.
Many more are killed behind the scenes because they don’t make the grade. As revealed in RTE’s award-winning "Greyhounds running for their lives" documentary, around 6,000 dogs are culled every year simply because they are not fast enough to win. The programme included horrifying scenes of dogs being delivered to a knackery where they were shot in the head and dumped into a skip. One dog was seen writhing on the ground as his merciless owner drove away https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM
How many more greyhounds have to suffer and die before the Irish Government respects the wishes of the majority and stops the state grants that are keeping cruel greyhound racing afloat. Please respond to our action alert below and join us in demanding an end to the funding.
ACTION ALERT
STOP THE STATE FUNDING FOR GREYHOUND RACING
Since 2001, Greyhound Racing Ireland (formerly the Irish Greyhound Board) has been granted more than a QUARTER OF A BILLION EUROS, including €16.8 million for 2020 and €19.2 million for 2021. This is unacceptable and must be stopped.
Please contact your local TDs and urge them to oppose this funding. Visit the Oireachtas website for contact details for TDs https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/members/tds/?term=/ie/oireachtas/house/dail/33
“Stop state funding to cruel greyhound racing” - Email all Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Green Party, Sinn Fein and Labour Party TDs.
Fianna Fáil 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
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
Green Party TDs
Eamon.Ryan@greenparty.ie; catherine.martin@oireachtas.ie; patrick.costello@oireachtas.ie; francisnoel.duffy@oireachtas.ie; neasa.hourigan@oireachtas.ie; brian.leddin@oireachtas.ie; steven.matthews@oireachtas.ie; malcolm.noonan@oireachtas.ie; joe.obrien@oireachtas.ie; marc.ocathasaigh@oireachtas.ie; roderic.ogorman@oireachtas.ie;
ossian.smyth@oireachtas.ie
Sinn Fein TDs
john.brady@oireachtas.ie; pat.buckley@oireachtas.ie; Sean.Crowe@oireachtas.ie; david.cullinane@oireachtas.ie; Pearse.Doherty@oireachtas.ie; dessie.ellis@oir.ie; kathleen.funchion@oireachtas.ie; martinkennysf@gmail.com; MaryLou.McDonald@oireachtas.ie; denise.mitchell@oireachtas.ie; imelda.munster@oireachtas.ie; eoin.obroin@oireachtas.ie; donnchadh.olaoghaire@oireachtas.ie; aengus.osnodaigh@oireachtas.ie; louiseoreillysf@gmail.com; maurice.quinlivan@oireachtas.ie; Brian.Stanley@oireachtas.ie; mark.ward@oireachtas.ie; chris.andrews@oireachtas.ie; martin.browne@oireachtas.ie; matt.carthy@oireachtas.ie; sorca.clarke@oireachtas.ie; roseconwaywalsh@eircom.net; reada.cronin@oireachtas.ie; pa.daly@oireachtas.ie; paul.donnelly@oireachtas.ie; mairead.farrell@oireachtas.ie; thomas.gould@oireachtas.ie; johnny.guirke@oireachtas.ie; claire.kerrane@oireachtas.ie; padraig.maclochlainn@oir.ie; johnny.mythen@oireachtas.ie; ruairi.omurchu@oireachtas.ie; darren.orourke@oireachtas.ie; patriciaryan975@gmail.com; pauline.tully@oireachtas.ie; vwynne@gmail.com
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
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Watch RTE’s award-winning "Greyhounds Running For Their Lives" documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM