If you were ever looking for an example of a cynical distortion and fabrication of facts to justify a position, the Welsh Parliament’s decision to consider the banning of greyhound racing is an absolute belter.

At the risk of putting the cart in front of the (poor exploited) horse, let’s first have a look at the conclusions:

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  • Recommendation 1. The Welsh Government is already committed to considering licensing of greyhound racing as part of its Animal Welfare Plan. We would encourage that work being prioritised
  • Recommendation 2. A majority of Committee Members believe that Welsh Government action should include a phased ban on greyhound racing in Wales.
  • Recommendation 3. A greyhound’s racing career can make up a short part of its life. Welsh Government action to improve animal welfare should not be restricted to a ban on racing – like the industry’s own strategy, it should consider the whole life of dogs, and the conditions in which they are kept before and after their racing careers. This would include the plight of dogs travelling through Wales on their way to races.

Implications

28. Banning greyhound racing and/or introducing stricter animal welfare rules for dog trainers would have an economic impact on individuals involved in the industry. There would also be a direct impact on the Valleys Stadium, and the medium-term development of the Ystrad Mynach area. There would need to be widespread consultation with the industry ahead of any significant changes.

29. We would also recommend consultation with organisations who take in former racing greyhounds, to ensure that they are able to provide their services without being overwhelmed by demand.

  • Recommendation 4. Welsh Government should ensure any changes are subject to widespread consultation, and that advice is available to those working in the industry on how to comply with any new rules or regulations.

30. Of course, greyhound racing is not the only sport where animals race for the entertainment of humans, who gamble on the results. However, our inquiries have been guided by the petition, and we have not looked at other sports. Clearly, it will be a matter for the government to consider whether the changing consensus on greyhound racing has implications for other sports.

  • Recommendation 5.In considering a ban on greyhound racing, the Welsh Government should also look at other sports where animals compete.

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So now it is up to the approriate minister to consider all the recommendations and decide which to consider.

So – let’s look at the study. First of all, ‘the petition’ from which all this started.

“The petition was submitted by Hope Rescue and opened in September 2021. It collected 35,101 signatures from all corners of the world. 18,707 of these were from Wales.”

Really?

An anti greyhound racing organisation collects 35K globally. What on earth does this have to do with 17K of them/us? Surely this is a Welsh issue? That left 18K Welsh folk out of a population of 3.1m who were against it. One person in 172 was so outraged as to want to sign a petition. If we had asked our regular monthly users to vote, the Welsh vote could have been negated at a stroke.

 

Moving on, check out their sources of reference. The Sun newspaper (!), the Daily Mirror Newspaper (!), a Guardian article that states that the antis want to stop greyhound racing and a discredited RTE documentary.

Or there is ‘evidence’ from the £eague Against Crue£ $ports – wonder what their interest is?

And of course, the Alliance Against Greyhound Racing’

They are my absolute faves.

They – unsurprisingly – reference a Professor of Animal Ethics saying greyhound racing should be banned, but fail to mention a Professor of Animal Ethics who is a GBGB Board member, who has the opposite view.

Funny that!

What do they have to say about ‘Disappearing Dogs?’

‘The greyhound racing industry seeks to hide the truth about the numbers of dogs bred and numbers of dogs homed once the industry has finished with its victims.” 

You sneaky fibbers

Let me point you in the direction of the GBGB website, where they are hidden in plain view. You can thank me later.

They make reference to ‘fatalities’ but no reference to the declining numbers of fatalities.

They talk about overbreeding – and then produce figures that are NINE years old. I doubt that is accidental. The more recent figures don’t fit their narrative.

And needless to say they make a lot of fuss about ‘injuries’.

But here is the problem. We produce them, and the anti racing brigade use them against us. We don’t reveal them and we are accused of a cover up.

The simple problem with injuries is that the huge majority are more ‘performance affecting’ than detrimental to long term health. Not that the Welsh Senedd gives a toss.

 

So reader – don’t be fooled into thinking that this report is a balanced consideration of the merits, or otherwise of greyhound racing and that we have come up short.

It is bent, crooked, slanted, disingenous or any number of adjectives you choose to use and its publication should be subject of an inquiry in itself.

There is no mention of the dozens of welfare organisations who support greyhound racing, starting with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. The committee seemingly paid limited attention to the views of Lord David Lipsey, the Labour peer (two of the five members of the committee are Welsh Labour) whose original attacks on the greyhound  industry are at the heart of its two decades of reform. His Lordship saw to that himself!

The report does make reference to the 100K signatures asking for a Government debate, but absolutely zero reference to the Government response that it was satisfied with the governance of the sport.

Crooked! Crooked! Crooked!

 

But the most interesting recommendation is no.5 and there is a little bit of me that hopes the Minister does make it an issue.

It is the first acknowledgement that this isn’t really about greyhound racing. It is about ‘other sports where animals compete’.

I would LOVE for this to come to national attention. The REAL agenda. Bring it on baby!

I think it is generally acknowledged that the likes of RSPCA were too frightened to tackle horseracing – at least yet – because of its political clout. Slowly slowly, one card at a time . . .

But make no mistake, horseracing’s issues are tougher than ours. Without intending to throw that sport under the welfare bus, even the physiology of horses puts them at a disadvantage. The recovery rate for a broken leg in a greyhound is huge. In horses it is zero.

But then why stop at racing? What about show jumping? Show breeding, of all types. Get rid of them and what about working animals? Police dogs? And God forbid. . . . .sheep dogs!