GBGB PLAN CRACKDOWN ON SERIAL ‘EUTHANASERS’

Trainers who serially have greyhounds put to sleep, rather than re-homed at the end of their racing careers, could soon find their licences under threat writes Floyd Amphlett.

The Star has learned that GBGB are pursuing a zero tolerance policy towards unnecessary euthanasia with staff meticulously compiling data from the ‘green’ retirement forms.

It is estimated that the worst 10 offending trainers are responsible for around 20% of all industry ‘economic euthanasias’.

Despite homes being found for 86 per cent of greyhounds deemed suitable for re-homing, GBGB Managing Director Mark Bird is looking to dramatically increase that figure.

He said: “Since we first published the track injury and retirement data in March, many in the sport, myself included, have been looking closely at the unnecessary euthanasia rates within our sport. As part of the Greyhound Commitment, we are seeking to reduce economic euthanasias to zero within a five year period.

“Whilst we release the injury and retirement rates annually, we are constantly looking at the data and are now able to see patterns emerging of higher euthanasia rates amongst specific trainers.

“Whether this is a cultural or generational practice or is part of an economic determination, we simply cannot ignore these figures relative to certain individuals within our sport. We can take decisive action on this and we will do so.

“I am very aware that some tracks are already trying very hard to change the status quo culture of trainers bringing dogs into the Veterinary Office and asking for the dog to be put to sleep when it sustains a career-ending injury.

“More tracks need to adopt the same approach but we also need to ensure that the dogs are not simply patched up and then taken to a local veterinary centre and put to sleep there instead.

“In the next few weeks, we will write directly to those trainers who have been assessed by us as having a higher euthanasia rate for either economic or unsuitable for homing reasons. We will also be writing to the respective tracks so that we can adopt a collaborative approach.

“The intention will be to hold a meeting between the respective parties and stakeholders with a view to affecting a significant drop in unnecessary euthanasia rates in 2019.

“This is not an empty promise; GBGB is wholly committed to achieving this goal. The GBGB Injury Recovery Scheme, launched earlier this month, is a significant step in achieving this, as it will have a significant impact on the number of dogs put to sleep for financial reasons.

“We are hoping to announce a fuller roll-out of the scheme in the next month or so which should have an even greater impact on reducing this figure.”

Cynics of the scheme will suggest that unscrupulous trainers will simply deem dogs as ‘unsuitable for homing’ as a ploy to avoid their responsibilities to ex-racers and continue to have them destroyed. Bird is having none of it.

He said: “The issue of greyhounds being put to sleep as being unsuitable for homing is, for me, another unsatisfactory and unnecessary statistic. We constantly strive to tell the general public that retiring greyhounds make fantastic pets.

“Surely that is such a counter-productive proposition given the number of greyhounds being put to sleep because they are deemed as unsuitable for homing?

“We have to accept that in any breed of dog, some will have behavioural issues that probably will determine they can never go into a domestic home but does that ever mean that the only other option is to put that dog to sleep?

“There are a number of established dog sanctuary charities that exist that would argue not. I am not advocating that we will get the number of unsuitable for homing euthanasias down to zero in the same way or timeframe as with economics but it is something that we have to be cognisant of as we move these issues forward.

“I will be having a series of conversations within the next few weeks with some of the animal charities as to how they might assist owners and trainers with their greyhounds being assessed for homing or even fostering.

“Owning a retired greyhound as I do now, I know full well that the home is a totally different environment to what a greyhound has been used to for its rearing and racing life and consequently they will take time to adjust and adapt. Perhaps this could be where some form of fostering comes in?

“As the sport’s regulator, GBGB demands the highest standards of welfare from all our owners, trainers and racetracks. This is why, alongside the work we are doing with tracks and trainers, we are also developing an Owner’s Charter.

“This Charter, which is being developed in partnership with our Greyhound Ambassadors, will reinforce an owner’s responsibility to look after all aspects of a greyhound’s welfare.

“As part of this, there will be clear guidelines on how to make the decision to put a dog to sleep with the expectation that economic euthanasia is simply not an option.”

Bird’s plans amount to the greatest shake up of welfare policy in the history of greyhound racing’s regulation and governance.

But he recognises that attitudes towards welfare within the industry have changed significantly in recent years, and they continue to evolve.

Traditionally, many trainers believed that the majority of greyhounds were simply unsuitable to be homed due to their propensity to attack other pets. Indeed for many years, the media feasted on stories of un-muzzled greyhounds ripping apart cats, pet rabbits and other dogs.

While a percentage of ex-racers, like other breeds, cannot always be trusted, the temperament of the racing greyhound has certainly ‘mellowed’ in the last 40 years with imported bloodlines from Australia and the USA producing a fall in semi-coursing Irish bloodlines.

Put simply, there has been a decline in the ‘kill instinct’, which has been replaced with a ‘chase instinct’. Most British and Irish bred greyhounds and now predominantly Aussie or American within three generations. An additional benefit of the change of psyche has seen breeders reporting far fewer non-chasers. A top breeder like Ian Greaves reckons to have no more than one non-chaser per year.

Also, for many years, trainers thought it better to have ex-racers humanely destroyed instead of falling into the hands of unscrupulous individuals. Tales of ex-racers ending up abandoned in independent racing, abused by travellers for illegal hare coursing or ending in Spain or vivisection were frequent.

The absence of co-ordinated home finding schemes also saw many owners caught out when dogs they believed to be living in comfortable retirement, were indeed found to be suffering in one of those unfortunate fate. Many owners decided ‘not to take the chance’.

It also has to be said, many greyhound trainers did, and still do, view greyhounds as ‘expendable’, particularly when they find themselves in economic plight.

With microchipping, improved tracking of ex-racers and a variety of schemes to ease the financial burden on the owners of injured greyhounds, Bird clearly feels the time has come for the industry to commit to a new ideal.

He said: “If we are all united across the sport to put an end to economic euthanasia, I truly believe that we can achieve this within five years – if not much sooner – but it does require a joint effort from us all.”