Greyhound Racing Ireland is having difficulties securing the services of vets due to "AN ANTI-GREYHOUND RACING SENTIMENT".

A Sunday Times report last weekend (18 July 2021) outlined that at a GRI meeting in October, its veterinary director raised the issue.

“A contract for veterinary services has been secured for Tralee, and Shelbourne Park is under review, but lack of interest and a desire for fees comparable with horseracing present a challenge,” he told the meeting, adding that “an anti-greyhound racing sentiment, rather than pay, appears to be the main block in securing veterinary services.”

In his article, headed "Greyhound Racing Ireland board member raises fears over trackside veterinary services", journalist Mark Tighe also revealed that GRI board member Pat Creed - who has since resigned over "corporate governance issues" - expressed concerns about "the veterinary treatment available at last year’s Irish Derby after the favourite suffered a serious injury".

Greyhound Pestana suffered a serious injury at the September 2020 Boylesports-sponsored race at Shelbourne Park and Pat Creed, who expressed "serious concerns", asked if “appropriate veterinary treatment” was available.

2-year-old Pestana could be seen tumbling to the ground after a collision at the first bend. According to a Racing Post report at the time, “initial suggestions [were] that he had suffered a bad break” before he was carried off the track.

Last week GRI CEO Gerard Dollard - who is due to step down in September - said he was at Shelbourne Park on the night and that the greyhound received “appropriate care”.

The Sunday Times quoted him as saying: "As is normal, the vet on duty provides the immediate care and the owner then brings the greyhound to his own vet. In this case Pestana required specialist veterinary treatment for a serious injury. This is the norm. For very valuable greyhounds, such as Pestana, owners understandably would wish for the care to be provided by their own vet.”

At the October meeting, Pat Creed also complained that many veterinary practitioners are “not small animal/companion animal vets, and therefore lack sufficient knowledge and training”.

Shelbourne Park is one of the worst tracks in Ireland for greyhound injuries and deaths. At least 196 greyhounds suffered injuries there and 47 died or were killed by a track vet over the past six years alone, sickening 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 because they don’t make the grade. As revealed in RTE’s award-winning “Greyhounds running for their lives”, around 6,000 greyhounds are culled every year because they are not fast enough to win races. The documentary 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

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 another €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; 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; ivana.bacik@oireachtas.ie

Please support our campaign with a donation
https://www.paypal.me/banbloodsports

Watch RTE’s award-winning "Greyhounds Running For Their Lives" documentary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM

Read the full Sunday Times report
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/greyhound-racing-ireland-board-member-raises-fears-over-trackside-veterinary-services-hnwpvc09j