Category: Survivors

Homing

Study into Greyhounds Homed by British Independent Rescues not on the Greyhound Board of Great Britain Homing Scheme

Post author By Dr. M Kaur
Post date December 13, 2024
No Comments on Study into Greyhounds Homed by British Independent Rescues not on the Greyhound Board of Great Britain Homing Scheme

A questionnaire was sent to British rescues not on the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) Homing Scheme. Criteria included that the greyhounds had to have raced on British tracks.

The GBGB’s Greyhound Homing Scheme – when greyhounds are registered to race with the GBGB, the trainer gives a £200 bond to the GBGB. When the greyhound has finished racing, the £200 trainer’s bond plus £200 from the GBGB, £400 in total is given to the homing organisation, as long as it is on the approved list. Rescues and organisations that highlight the reality of greyhound racing are not allowed to be part of the scheme.

Some rescues did not complete the questionnaire due to being too busy (as there is a homing crisis); one rescue stated concerns that they would be harassed by participants and supporters of greyhound racing even though the results would be anonymous.

RESULTS

The results are over two years, 2022 and 2023, and a total of 410 greyhounds.

The ages ranged from 1 – 12 years with the average being 4 years old. Male:Female ratio was 55%:45% (226:184)

Rescues had around 30 greyhounds on each of their waiting list, with an average wait time for rescue space of 3 months. The average time they stayed in rescue was 11 weeks.

Of the 410 greyhounds, 11% (45) had been at risk of being killed.
78% (320) of the greyhounds came from trainers that were on the GBGB homing scheme. Not all of the trainers gave their £200 bond from the scheme to the rescues, one rescue said 75% of their trainer did. The time the trainers had waited for a space on the GBGB scheme ranged from 3 months to a year.

The condition of greyhounds coming into rescue varied, rescues saying it depended on the trainer.

Costs

The cost of homing a greyhound without any extra expenses for injuries etc was an average of £1,625 (ranged from £1,200 – £2,000).

Most of this was funded by the public, an average of 93% equating to £1,511 per greyhound.

Injuries

Results here are incomplete as one rescue could not give the exact number of greyhounds injured, so the figures given are lower than the true number.

16% (66) of the greyhounds arrived with injuries, 5% (3) of those injured had major injuries that were not treated.

At least 9% (38) of greyhounds had a history of a previous fracture. Rescues did state that they were not always told if there had been a previous injury. On several occasions this had lead to further fractures at the injury site as the rescue had not been aware and therefore not limited the dogs running in their field.

Minor injuries cost anywhere between £300 to £3,000 to treat while major injuries could cost as much as £8,000.

Dental Disease

50% (203) of greyhounds had minor dental disease which cost on average £500 to treat.

35% (142) had major dental problems costing between £800 to £1,500 to treat.

Dental disease distribution in rescue greyhounds

Comments from Rescues

Rescues approached, even those that did not complete the survey, said that the GBGB homing scheme was not working. Some rescues said they had been approached several times to join the scheme with the
GBGB representative being ‘persistent’.

Homing is ‘…getting worse, rescues on the scheme are cherry picking the greyhounds.’

‘The number of ex-racers coming out of the industry far exceed the number of rescue spaces available. The pressure on rescues to keep up with demand is ever increasing, the situation is far from improving. The Bond should be paid to the rescue/organisation caring for the dog, regardless of racing stance.’

‘The GBGB needs to have a conversation with us, we may be anti-racing but we and the other rescues who are also anti-racing, are are still a valuable resource that could help to improve the welfare of greyhounds, if we open up a dialogue.’

CONCLUSION

This survey highlights several things, but there are limitations due to incomplete data and lack of transparency from the greyhound racing industry, such as number of greyhound that are homed by independent rescue not on the homing scheme.

11% of greyhounds were saved from being killed, showing the vital work the independent rescues do.

There have been no public figures to date on the number of greyhounds leaving racing that have had fractures. In this study 10% of greyhounds that came into rescue had a fracture (current and previous), and 16% arrived with an injury; at least 25% of greyhounds leaving racing had suffered an injury.

The study, in line with previous reports, shows a high incidence of dental disease in racing greyhounds, 85%.

Over 90% of homing costs are covered by the general public, for these 410 greyhounds, a fraction of those homed independently, the public donated at least £620,000, which the rescues had to source. According to the Retired Greyhound Trust their average homing cost per greyhound in 2023 was £1,625, with their £400 bond per greyhound from the scheme, that still left them with 75% of the homing cost to raise, over £1.5 million.

Greyhound racing is part of the multi billion pound gambling industry, yet it relies on the public to fund millions of pounds every year to home their greyhounds.

Rescues confirm that certain trainers are known to keep greyhounds in poor condition, which raises concerns on the GBGB and track vets actions or lack of.

Why does the GBGB data not have a category for greyhounds homed by rescues outside of the scheme? Is it because it would highlight how much the industry homing schemes are failing?

In essence the GBGB thought that they could stop greyhounds going to rescues that were anti racing, without any consideration of the greyhound welfare issues this would cause. The scheme does not have enough organisations to home the greyhounds being discarded by the racing industry every year and is contributing to the greyhound homing crisis.

The GBGB homing scheme is failing the greyhounds, with hundreds of greyhounds stuck in trainers kennels 1,499 greyhounds staying with trainers in 2023 compared to 715 in 2022, and an increase in the number of greyhounds being killed due to homing issues – 55 greyhounds in 2023 compared to 20 in 2022
(GBGB-VERIFIED-Injury-Retirement-Summary-2023.pdf).

Quote from another independent rescuer:

‘Their scheme comes with silencing that most of us will not buy into. With no list, no support and no spaces the greyhounds are now piling up in trainers kennels. We are seeing what we expected to see…. unneutered greyhounds turning back up in the stray pounds…Once again my question to the GBGB…. when will you release the absolute FULL TRUTH of numbers. They are once again falling through cracks.
You are not fit for purpose, you never have been.’

With special thanks to Forever Hounds Trust and to the rescues that took part for their assistance with this study.

Survivors

Pippa’s story

Pippa has always been simply a big friendly greyhound girl. She has no expectations from life, she isn’t bothered about her place in the family hierarchy and she thrives on a simple routine. Officially named Dacent Alma, Pippa was owned by a syndicate and ran sixty-eight races at (the soon to be demolished) Belle Vue race track. At the age of 3 ¾, Pippa was discarded into rescue by her award-winning trainer, complete with bald patches, scars from pressure sores, bad teeth and ticks.

Pippa’s story initially seemed very typical of your average greyhound leaving the racing industry, but the closer we looked into her past, the greater the implications became.

Pippa was born in Ireland October 2009, presumably at the Dacent Kennels, one of a litter of five. However, her grandfather was a very famous Australian Greyhound named Bombastic Shiraz who was prolifically bred from (often via straws) once his racing days were over, but was later lucky enough to live out the remainder of his natural life as a companion dog with his trainer‘s family.

His son, Pippa’s father, Bit Chili, was also a well-known and profusely bred greyhound but we were informed that, sadly, he was sent to China for breeding where he eventually died. On further investigation, we discovered that Pippa has half siblings across the globe, including the late Lucy of Busselton Greyhound Awareness in Australia and a number of Greyhounds rescued from the Macau Canidrome. Thus is the nature of greyhound mass breeding.

We adopted a greyhound girl who had not been raced, Rio, along with Pippa. Rio had been cruelly treated in her former life yet she found her niche and adapted to home life far quicker than Pippa who seemed bound by habit and puzzled by spontaneous interaction and more subtle behaviours, which we attributed to her having been kennelled 23/7 with little human contact or enrichment. We didn’t want to confuse Pippa so we just allowed her to be the big friendly greyhound girl that she has always been, no pressure.

Very gradually, over the years, Pippa’s ego has developed and now she’ll throw her fluffy octopus around, scrounge for treats, perform zoomies in the garden and make hefty leaps of satisfaction onto the settee…for whatever reason. We regard this as a major triumph as we weren’t sure whether Pippa would ever really grasp the concept of ‘being more dog.’ Pippa absolutely loves water and will happily wade through any and every puddle, pond and river.

Pippa no longer has any teeth. Her front teeth were completely worn down when she came to live with us and our vet said it was consistent with chewing at bars through boredom. She had half of her teeth removed in 2017 and the rest extracted in 2019 but she manages fine. Pippa will be twelve this year and she appears to be generally healthy and fit…with a good strong heartbeat, the vet told us. She’s certainly happy and we hope she’ll be able to enjoy many more years of contented bliss.

K. & L.O.

Pippa

Survivor's Stories Survivors

Jane’s story

We were recently contacted by a lady who wishes to remain anonymous and whom we shall call, for the sake of this article, Jane.

Now Jane’s personal situation is such that she is the perfect placement for the more neglected or difficult to rehome dogs (she can afford expensive vet bills, lives in the country and has no dependants). Jane is well known for taking the more ‘damaged’ greyhounds so is at the top of the list of who to contact when such a dog comes along in her local area.

Jane adopted her first greyhound in 2009 and since then has had eighteen of them with six currently in residence.

She has asked that I point out that not all have been badly treated but please just look at the list below of those that have been. It’s not pleasant reading by any means and gives a clear indication of the appalling treatment that some of these dogs have had to endure.

I think that it’s worth noting that even though some of the dogs that Jane has adopted appear not to have been neglected they were still rejected once they were no longer of any use.

Over 80% of racing greyhounds come into the UK from Ireland and are tattooed in both ears. All of the greyhounds mentioned below were Irish bred

Archie

Archie was adopted at the tender age of thirteen. He had spent his life in kennels as a stud dog and once he wasn’t useful anymore he was going to be put to sleep. Fortunately Jane was there for him once his owner had discarded him.

Casey

Casey, an elderly female and an ex Irish racer, was found emaciated and abandoned in the woods in the west of the county that Jane lives in. Quite possibly left to fend for herself and ultimately die alone.

Davie

Davie was aged nine when Jane adopted him. He’d been left to rot in a shed after his racing life was over. Davie had to have all his teeth removed as they were in such poor condition and he had to have his tail amputated as his rear was a stinking maggot infested mess. His owner really took care of him eh!

Kelly

Then there was Kelly. Kelly was left with an untreated broken leg which had to be amputated.

Teal

Teal was found in woodland tied up in a barbed wire “harness” and left to die a slow and painful death.

Freddy

Freddy was yet another greyhound that was left in kennels after his racing days were over and was so withdrawn and depressed that he was almost catatonic when rescued.

William

Well William never raced and was brought over from Ireland aged two. He has lots of scars and was totally terrified of being touched when he was rescued. Four years on he still avoids men. We’ll never know what happened to William but he still suffers with the psychological damage of those unknown traumas.

Snuff

Snuff was trial raced in Sunderland and broke his back leg at that race. He was only eighteen months old at the time and was left without treatment until he was rescued fourteen weeks later! It’s beyond comprehension how anyone could leave a dog in that amount of pain for so long.

Percy

Percy received a massive head trauma whilst racing and his skull is visibly dented. This initially caused him to have frequent fits which, with time, have thankfully now diminished both in frequency and severity. Percy has a sweet nature but Jane says that he is definitely “special needs”.

Lastly Stevie

Stevie is Jane’s most recent adoption and came from a rescue in July 2020. Blind Stevie, as he’s now known, was never raced. However ‘somebody’ had obviously decided that he was no longer of any use to them so had taken it upon themselves to try to kill him with a hammer. Fortunately for Stevie they failed but in the process they destroyed Stevies optic nerves leaving him blind.

Jane goes on to say that the remaining eight dogs that she has adopted came into her care as their previous owners weren’t able to care for them any longer.

I’m sure that you’ll all agree that the above makes for sickening reading. So many of these greyhounds suffered either directly or indirectly at the hands of the Racing Industry and all of these cases are from 2009 up to and including 2020 with the most recent cases clearly indicating that there is still a massive problem within the Industry contrary to their protestations of improvements in the welfare and treatment of the racing greyhound from cradle to grave.

As Jane quite rightly says

“I abhor the exploitation of dogs (indeed any animals) in any shape or form and am well aware that the betting industry’s multi million pound profits are chief drivers for horse and dog racing..and have never understood how these are allowed to be self regulating, in the face of all the evidence of animal cruelty”

We would like to thank Jane on behalf of all the greyhounds that she adopted and covered expensive veterinary bills for. Thank you for being there for them.

The greyhound racing industry have shown us time and time again that they are not to be trusted regarding their empty promises about the welfare of the dogs, and that is why we at the Alliance Against Greyhound Racing feel that seeking a total ban is the only way to protect these sentient souls from the atrocities bestowed upon them in the name of entertainment.

The survivors:

Survivor's Stories

Misha’s story

Misha was born in 2007 and raced at Belle Vue in 2009 and 2010. After she was raced 28 times she was kept at her trainer’s kennels until she was rescued in January 2011 – 10 months after her last recorded race.

Misha had worms, her coat was in very bad condition, she had a number of scars and every time she stretched or got up after sleeping she would ‘crack’.

When Misha was first brought home she was very scared of men and extremely scared of anyone holding a stick – she would position herself so I was between her and the stick. It took about 6 months for her to be comfortable around men she didn’t know.

Over the years Misha’s health in general was good but this all changed in 2017 when she was diagnosed with a sarcoma above her eye. Misha was subsequently diagnosed with 4 more sarcomas, had them removed and received radiotherapy on two areas.

For the last few years of her life Misha suffered from arthritis and this impacted on her exercise and ability to get in and out of the car. Towards the end of her life Misha could only cope with a short walk of less than 5 minutes. Misha was on painkillers, anti-inflammatory medication and supplements to ease the symptoms and discomfort from her arthritis.

DM, Manchester

Survivor's Stories

Lenny’s story

My name is Lenny and I’m 2 years old, born in December 2017. I was bred in Ireland and named Ballymac Prancer. I was bought at 6 months old and came to Wolverhampton to race at Monmore. I raced 13 times and won 2 of them. The rest of the time I did pretty badly. We eventually found out that I was inexplicably injured my whole life. My previous ‘owner’ has been in contact with my doggy mum and has said this, “he has always had little injuries but we could never really find out what they were and he left the vets at the track perplexed as well”. If I was injured, why did I run until January 2020? I injured myself in a race and had to rest for 54 days afterwards, before my last qualifying trial. Thankfully I didn’t win. My foster family pre warned my forever family that I had some balance issues and would frequently trip up. Everyone was unsure as to why I had difficulties even walking over flat ground. By the time I came to my forever home (4 months after ‘retiring’) I was mostly okay in walking and running. But I did have physio at my foster home.

I also have been diagnosed with having degenerative heart failure which is treated by medication for life. We do not know at which point this started but it is highly unusual for my age and breed. Either way, without medication I should not have been racing.

Also I have a scar on my left flank from being caught in a trap. My teeth have signs of being ground down from chewing on kennel bars.

I was 29kg when I should have been 34kg.

As with most ex racer greyhounds, I did not know how to play, how to interact with other dogs. I am reactive if a dog jumps on me and paws at my face or rear end.

K.A. Nottingham

Survivor's Stories

Beth’s Story

This girl was rescued by one of our members from a trainer who raced her at a flapping (unlicensed) track in Thornton, Fife. She had a degree of brain damage caused by repeated beatings by her trainer. He admitted to beating her unconscious with a metal bowl if she spilled her food. He also admitted to dragging her out and ‘giving her a kicking’ if he came home drunk and in a bad mood. This girl was so unbelievably traumatised by her experience that it took years of hard work to rehabilitate her. Fortunately, she was in a loving home with people who vowed to try to undo the damage caused by her trainer. Due to the severe head trauma sustained, she developed full blown dementia by 6 ½ and sadly had to be put to sleep at 8 years old. She will always be sadly missed.

Ms ER, Scotland

Survivor's Stories

Jenny’s story

My girl Jenny was a ‘damaged’ greyhound when we rescued her at 4 years old. We rescued her from Sheffield 10 years ago, she was an Irish dog originally who was brought over and raced at Owlerton until an injury saw her get left at the rescue.

Jenny before she was handed over by her trainer

When we took her in she was terrified of everything, would only sleep by our front door, her skin and fur were in terrible condition with hair loss and a huge bald patch on her hind leg. Her injury was a severe sprain on her back leg which bothered her all her life until we lost her last year as it was never treated properly when it happened. Jenny was absolutely terrified of kennels and loud bangs and refused to run in all the time we had her. Sadly she passed away last year at 14 years old but even though she had a rough start to her life we did everything we could to give her a new and better life where she was loved and spoiled rotten.

Ms E.L., Chesterfield

Jenny in her loving home.

Homing

On the backstretch

“I had been taking two of my rescued greyhounds, who are also trained PAT dogs (Pets As Therapy), into the Norwich University of Arts each week for therapy sessions with the students. On one occasion I was approached by one of the final year students, Beth, who told me that she was making a ‘dogumentary’ about greyhounds and wondered if we could help. Obviously, I am always keen for greyhounds to be portrayed as the wonderful, gentle and patient animals that they are and this proved to be a great opportunity. Beth has been kind enough to allow us to share”, Sue Cole.

Survivor's Stories

Eddie’s story

Eddie raced 59 times at Newcastle track and won his first race at only 20 months old. He was callously discarded and dumped into a rescue by his trainer at exactly 3 years old, where he languished for a further 5 months. Eddie was severely underweight when he was rescued, his skin was so dry it resembled fish scales and he suffered from bad hair loss all over his body. His upper and lower incisor and canine teeth were ground down to stumps – presumably from chewing on his kennel bars – and his molars and premolars were covered in thick tartar which had to be removed under general anaesthetic. His body was covered in scars, his legs being particularly bad, but his neck is also scarred along with a deep circular scar on his shoulder. He also has muzzle scarring on his face.

When Eddie was taken to the vet the day after he was rescued, his family were told that the wide, four inch long scar on his chest had never been stitched but should have been. Eddie weighed in at 24.5kg and had to gain 7 kilos, slowly, to reach his minimum weight. He is now a healthy 36.5kg. Eddie’s body has healed but by far his biggest problems have been in his mind. After 4 years in a loving home he is still too frightened to go for a walk in the big wide world and many everyday household noises still scare him. He is a creature of habit and has many foibles which his family have grown used to. The first few weeks after rescue were extremely hard for them all and for the other dog who lived in the house, but there was never any question of him being sent back.

Racing severely damages these dogs and Eddie is, unfortunately, one of thousands…

GFP, Scotland

Survivor's Stories

Daisy’s Story

Aged just 2 years old, this girl was dumped on an independent rescue as she was no longer of use to the trainer who raced her at Shawfield track. She suffered from severe anxiety and behavioural problems and her small body was covered in multiple confirmed cigarette burns and scars. Shortly after rescue she was diagnosed with severe cervical spondylosis, chronic back pain and myoclonic epilepsy. Her injuries were thought to be due to trauma received during her short ‘career’. She required daily painkillers, anti-epilepsy drugs and medication to control her anxiety and received regular physiotherapy and behavioural therapy.

The cervical spondylosis worsened over time and this had an impact on the nerve supply to her forelegs. Her pain levels and coordination problems were increasing and in April 2020 this resulted in an emergency admission to the vets. It was discovered shortly afterwards that she had developed osteosarcoma in her humerus. Due to her neck injury, amputation was not a viable option, so she was sent home to make the most of her final months. Her condition worsened rapidly, and it was also discovered that she had a tumour in her lumbar spine. She passed away peacefully with her family in July 2020, just days after her 7^th birthday.

We are thankful she found her forever home where she was valued and loved and not seen as a commodity. She was a very much loved little girl by everyone who knew her.

She is one of the many reasons our group will continue to campaign to end Greyhound racing.

Ms E.R, Scotland