Letter in today's Irish Examiner re greyhound "industry": Please don’t fund greyhound sector With pre-budget submissions pouring into the Department of Finance, I would appeal to the Government NOT to give a single cent this time around to the greyhound sports sector. This utterly cruel and intrinsically corrupt industry, which encompasses the vile practice of hare coursing, “blooding” of dogs on live animals, widespread doping of greyhounds, the callous treatment of dogs whose sporting days are over (they are routinely shot or dispatched with a whack of a spade or shovel, as hinted at in the movie Man About Dog), and the export of greyhounds to China… where they are raced to death or boiled alive for human consumption. Each year, the Government has doled out enormous sums of taxpayer’s money to this blot on the Irish sporting landscape. Last year the greyhound sector received €14.8 million. On a positive note, the industry is in decline. Figures from the Irish Coursing Club show that the number of active greyhound owners in Ireland has dropped from 9,826 to 5,940 in the period 2011 to 2015. Attendances are down drastically in recent years at both hare coursing and track racing events, and sponsors have been backing away in their droves from hare coursing since graphic film footage of hares being mauled and tossed about by dogs at Irish venues surfaced on YouTube. Far from throwing a lifeline to this ailing industry, its decline should be welcomed. It will be good riddance if and when it finally goes to the wall. Only then will greyhounds find contentment in loving homes and hares run free in our countryside. John Fitzgerald (Campaign for the Abolition Of Cruel Sports) Lower Coyne Street Callan Co Kilkenny