National animal welfare charity the League Against Cruel Sports renewed calls for greyhound racing to be banned by whichever party wins the general election, after the industry’s governing body published figures last week showing the scale of deaths and injuries sustained last year.
Greyhound racing should be banned
The Greyhound Board of Great Britain figures show 109 deaths at trackside and 4,238 injuries at its 20 tracks in 2023, a high proportion of the 15,000 active racing greyhounds in the UK.
Emma Judd, the League’s head of campaigns, said:
The inherently unsafe nature of racing greyhounds around oval tracks is causing an unacceptable death toll and inordinate number of injuries.
It’s time for greyhound racing to be banned – greyhounds are currently being sacrificed for the profits of the gambling industry and people’s entertainment.
A further 55 greyhounds were found no home or designated unsuitable for homing so were put to sleep as the industry didn’t have a use for them anymore.
The figures, which Defra stipulates the Greyhound Board of Great Britain provides every year, go back to 2018 and show a large number of deaths and injuries every year.
A report conducted by professor Andrew Knight into greyhound racing established in 2018 that racing around oval tracks at great speeds put huge strain on the greyhounds’ bodies and made deaths and injuries inevitable.
Accidents or pile-ups at or approaching the first bend are notorious and the report quotes from another source showing that congestion here accounts for many fatalities.
Shocking deaths and injuries
Emma added:
The scale of greyhound fatalities and injuries we are seeing is shocking and we need to see an end to greyhound racing which flies in the face of animal welfare standards in the UK.
The government’s Code of Practice for the Welfare of Dogs explains how to keep your dog healthy, but these GBGB figures show a world of pain, suffering and injury among racing greyhounds.
Charity the RSPCA has made the same call – saying in its 2024 general election manifesto that any incoming government must “end greyhound racing”.
Featured image via the League Against Cruel Sports and the Canary
