An Irish greyhound lost a leg after being severely injured in a collision at a UK track it has emerged.
The greyhound named Ballymac Amarilo was knocked over during a race at Swindon track on 24 June 2020 and suffered an injury which led to the amputation.
The details are revealed in a report in the Swindon Advertiser (27th May 2022).
The article by Daniel Wood states: “An accident during a Swindon greyhound race that saw a dog lose a leg and left its owner needing counselling could have been avoided, claims a former employee. At an employment tribunal, former Swindon Greyhound deputy racing manager Kiaran O'Brien was awarded £16,867.07 after experiencing 'detriment' at work for whistle-blowing on some of the organisation's practices. As well as making race-fixing allegations, Mr O'Brien shared concerns over the welfare of greyhounds. He said his attempts to stop a dangerous dog from racing failed, leading to what he called "an accident waiting to happen."
It goes on to detail how the dog in question "collided with two other dogs during a race at the Blunsdon stadium on June 24, 2020” and that Ballymac Amarilo “was severely injured, needing reconstructive surgery costing roughly £6,000.”
Read the full article at
https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/20164983.incident-saw-greyhound-lose-leg-swindon-could-avoided-says-ex-employee/
See a photo of the now three-legged greyhound at https://www.greyhound-data.com/d?d=Ballymac+Amarilo
The Greyhound Racing Ireland website shows that before being exported to the UK, Ballymac Amarilo was trialled once at Tralee greyhound stadium on 2 September 2019.
Many greyhounds who suffer injuries at tracks do not make it out alive. For example, in Ireland last year, 351 greyhounds were injured at races, with nearly half of them (154) dying or being killed by track vets. The figures represent only the tip of the iceberg and do not include greyhounds injured at tracks, taken away and later killed elsewhere.
As revealed in the award-winning “RTE Investigates: Greyhounds running for their lives” documentary, thousands of greyhounds are also killed every year simply because they are not fast enough. It included shocking scenes of greyhounds being delivered to a knackery where they were shot in the head and dumped in a skip.
A damning report which Greyhound Racing Ireland attempted to hide, revealed that around 6,000 greyhounds are killed every year because they don’t make the grade. The report estimated that, for example, a total of 17,962 greyhounds were culled in 2013, 2014 and 2015. They were killed for “failure to produce qualifying times”, “failure to produce desired entry level times” and for an “unacceptable decline in performance”.
ACTION ALERT
Don’t go greyhound racing or attend events at greyhound tracks.
Urge Groupon to stop offering discounts for Swindon greyhound track. Despite stating in May 2020 that “we confirm that the deal has been closed”, the company continues to offer discounts to the track https://www.groupon.co.uk/deals/swindon-greyhounds-gbgb-1
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