A company which supports the cruel, dog-killing greyhound industry is listed as an exhibitor at an upcoming event aimed at animal lovers.
The website of Pet Expo, which is due to be held in November, shows that Gain Pet Nutrition will be present as an exhibitor alongside dog and cat rescue groups.
Gain is a brand owned by Glanbia - the company behind Avonmore, Kilmeaden, Slimfast and Optimum Nutrition. Glanbia has refused to cut ties with greyhound racing, despite recent revelations about horrendous cruelty and killing in the industry - including the shooting of dogs in the head.
The support has continued even after its brand was associated with a race in which a greyhound tested positive for a prohibited substance. Naproxen (an anti-inflammatory pain medication for humans that can be very toxic for dogs) was detected in greyhound Grahams Star at Galway Stadium on 31st July after the “GAIN INTERTRACK CHALLENGE ROUND 6” race.
The Gain brand was also attached to four races at Shelbourne Park in July - a month after the RTE Investigates documentary revealed the horrors of greyhound racing in Ireland, including the killing of 6,000 greyhounds every year because they are not fast enough to win races. The programme included horrifying scenes of dogs 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
Gain has also continued to sponsor racing at Mullingar stadium (the worst track in Ireland for greyhound fatalities). During the “Gain Inter Track Challenge” race there at the end of July, two greyhounds fell to the ground and one “did not finish” the race (suggesting an injury). There was an apparent attempt to hide from the public what happened to the dogs - video footage of the race is not available to view on the Irish Greyhound Board Youtube channel.
Gain had been listed as a sponsor on the homepage of the Pet Expo site - http://www.petexpo.ie - but was removed. Complaints had been made to Pet Expo about the inclusion of a company which sponsors greyhound racing in an event aimed at people who love and respect dogs, cats and rabbits (animals who suffer and die in the cruel greyhound industry).
Glanbia's Gain Pet Nutrition is one of the biggest sponsors of greyhound racing. In 2016, it announced a rolling one year sponsorship deal worth €120,000 - a cash injection helping to keep alive an activity that the Irish public wants ended.
Last week, GAIN was thanked on the Irish Greyhound Board website for its continued support - "The Gain Dog Nutrition A3 525 kicks off at Kilkenny this evening and with a total prize fund of €11,000 and a winner’s purse of €5,000 the sponsors should again be applauded for their commitment to our wonderful sport."
In an email to the organisers of Pet Expo, ICABS said that allowing Gain to be involved “is surely incompatible with an event aimed at those who love and respect animals. It will certainly not sit well with dog lovers, cat lovers or rabbit lovers. As highlighted on RTE's Liveline in August, live cats and rabbits are used to illegally blood greyhounds to psyche them up ahead of track racing. A former greyhound racer told listeners: ‘I personally was offered many times by men walking around the tracks where I raced my dogs - offering different trainers and owners live hares or rabbits. The men are walking around you and asking you if you have any problems with your dogs losing interest for chasing [and telling you that] you can use blooding...I was offered it not just once but a few times at the track.’” https://www.facebook.com/banbloodsports/videos/898004470564453/
Gain has also shamefully supported hare coursing. In the past, a notice on the Gain website headed "Gain dog food dominates at the national [hare coursing] meeting in Clonmel", stated "Congratulations to the six Clonmel Champions for 2015... Six brilliant winners and we salute their owners, trainers and breeders." An advert for "Gain Dog Food/Glanbia Agribusiness" appeared in a booklet for the Clonmel coursing meeting and a prominent notice in the booklet for a hare coursing meet in Carlow stated: "Co Carlow Coursing Club wish to thank Gain". Listing winning greyhounds at the Irish Coursing Derby as one of its success stories, Gain claimed that coursing greyhounds "perform better on Gain than on any other food".
ACTION ALERT
Contact Pet Expo and politely appeal to the organiser to reject Gain as an exhibitor until the company announces a permanent end to greyhound racing sponsorship.
Pet Expo
Email: petexpoireland@gmail.com
Contact GAIN’s parent company, Glanbia (the business behind Avonmore, Kilmeaden, Slimfast, Optimum Nutrition, etc) and ask it to permanently end all sponsorship/support of greyhound racing and hare coursing.
Jim Bergin
CEO, Glanbia
Glanbia House,
Kilkenny, Ireland
Telephone: +353 (0)56-777 2200 or Tel: 1890 321 321
More phone numbers at: https://greyhound.gainanimalnutrition.com/contact-us/
Email: corporatecomms@glanbia.com; info@gainanimalnutrition.com; jfox@glanbia.ie; seantraynor64@outlook.com; rigneyfam@iolfree.ie; imaunsell@glanbia.ie; jimtracy@glanbia.ie
Tweet to: @GlanbiaPlc
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GAINpetnutrition/