Louth Sinn Féin is being urged to scrap plans to hold a fundraiser at a greyhound track this weekend.
Louth Sinn Féin’s “NIght at the Dogs” fundraiser is due to to take place on Saturday at Dundalk stadium https://www.facebook.com/events/dundalk-stadium/night-at-the-dogs/539392700137332/ It comes just weeks after County Louth Sinn Féin TD, Imelda Munster, acknowledged that greyhound racing is an industry “that allows cruelty to animals” and involves “what appears to be wide-scale animal welfare abuses”.
Speaking at a Public Accounts Committee meeting on 19 September, Deputy Munster also referred to the doping of dogs - quoting a vet who observed that “drugging dogs is rampant and sophisticated” - and the disappearance of thousands of dogs. She said that the content of the recent "RTE Investigates: Greyhounds running for their lives" documentary was “quite shocking”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM
In an appeal to Louth Sinn Féin and Deputy Munster, ICABS pointed out that in addition to the 6,000 greyhounds killed every year because they are not fast enough to win races, dogs are also suffering and dying at tracks, including Dundalk stadium.
Dundalk Stadium is one of the worst in Ireland for injuries and deaths. Over the past five years, at least 110 greyhounds suffered injuries there and 47 were killed by a track vet.
Track fundraisers are a major source of income for the cruel greyhound industry and, along with the massive government grants (which Sinn Féin has voted against), are helping to keep it afloat.
Louth Sinn Féin’s decision to hold a fundraiser at a greyhound track is completely out of step with public opinion. Following the RTE Investigates programme, numerous ongoing protests have been held outside tracks (including Dundalk stadium) and there are growing calls for a ban on greyhound racing. An opinion poll conducted by TheJournal.ie shows that a 80 per cent majority want the government to permanently end the state grants which are keeping greyhound racing and its associated animal cruelty alive. A RED C poll found that two out of every three Irish adults want the government to stop the funding. Petitions urging the government to scrap the massive grants have been signed over 340,000 times.
WATCH: Imelda Munster TD (Sinn Féin, Louth) questions state funding for cruel greyhound racing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLZD1tNaOIE
ACTION ALERT
Urge Louth Sinn Féin to say NO to cruel greyhound racing and choose a different venue for its fundraiser.
Louth Sinn Féin
Drogheda Constituency Office,
Unit 6, 84 West St, Drogheda, Co. Louth.
Tel: 041 987 3823
Email: sfdrogheda@eircom.net; droghedasf@eircom.net; cllrmunster@eircom.net; joanna.byrne@louthcoco.ie; admin@sinnfein.ie; marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie
Urge Sinn Féin to support a ban on greyhound racing
Sinn Féin
44 Parnell Square
Dublin 1, Ireland
Tel: (353) 1 8726100/8726932
Email: admin@sinnfein.ie
Watch RTE Investigates: Greyhounds Running for Their Lives to witness the horrors of greyhound racing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYTb2qBjlMM