Compassion News

Greyhounds Under Political Focus

In April 2009, DEFRA launched a consultation on the proposed introduction of regulations to promote the welfare of greyhounds at racetracks which would be made under section 13 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006. The DEFRA consultation document can be found at www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/greyhound-welfare/index.htm
The proposed regulations were completely inadequate. They focused on what happens at the racetrack itself and ignored off-track welfare, which is where the atrocities we have seen in the past occur. The cases of greyhounds being killed with the captive bolt gun recently reported in the press will not be prevented by any change to the law. Moreover, the Inland Revenue will continue to earn millions of pounds on the back of exploited racing greyhounds.

Many people wrote to DEFRA and their local MP to make the following clear:
1. No self-regulation, only independent regulation will do;
2. One system to track all greyhounds from cradle to grave;
3. One injury database open to public scrutiny;
4. Independent regular inspection of trainers' and breeders' kennels;
5. Greyhounds to be transported in cages which enable them to stand up and turn around;
6. Greyhounds to be euthanased by a vet only if rehoming is not an option (e.g. irreparable injury); and
7. Vets to be specially trained and have financial independence.

The outcome of the DEFRA consultation was as follows:
1. 8,500 responses (78%) rejected by DEFRA due to missed deadline and 2,451 responses were accepted;
2. 89% of the 2,451 disagreed with the government's proposal;
3. All objections from greyhound welfare/rescue groups and individuals were rejected by the government.
4. DEFRA did not make any material changes to draft regulations and merely reinforced self-regulation of welfare.

The regulations were laid before Parliament on 14 December, to be debated in each House of Parliament. If the regulations do not meet any opposition, the statutory in-strument will come into effect under section 13 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 on 6 April 2010.The substance of the regulations has hardly changed from those put up for initial consultation. The minor alterations are:
1. Sales trials are now in-scope (except for recording of greyhounds participating);
2. Having inspected dogs before races etc. and affirmed that they are fit to race the vet must now actually sign-off the register;
3. Requirement for trackside kennels for 20% of dogs is now only required from April 2013;
4. Kennel size requirement only applies to kennels installed after April 2010;
5. Kennel temperature limits (10-26 degrees centigrade) eliminated, now the temperature has to be suitable for dogs just raced;
6. Requirement for earmarks only applies to dogs born after April 2010;
7. Various changes to do with proof of trainers' ID are included;
8. Injury date to be included in injury database.
The current draft statutory instrument can be found at
www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/greyhound-welfare/index.htm

It is very upsetting to see these regulations apparently breeze through the parliamen-tary system when the RSPCA, DogsTrust and greyhound welfare charities were op-posed to them and we all put reasoned facts before the government. Moreover, The Chairman of the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services said that councils will remain powerless to prosecute those putting greyhounds at risk and that it will be almost impossible to stop rogue greyhound tracks from operating.

With this outcome all we could do was to keep lobbying our MPs and to sign the petition http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/helpgreyhounds/ to the Prime Minister complain-ing about the DEFRA regulations.

We all encouraged our MPs to sign the Early Day Motion (EDM 386) to press home the message that in proposing these regulations the DEFRA Minister had caved in to the gambling industry at the expense of the dogs – and ridden roughshod over the democratic process. EDM 386 – ¯Welfare of Racing Greyhounds said:

That this House calls on the Government to acknowledge that the draft regulations under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 on the welfare of the 30,000 greyhounds used for racing are, following consultation, acceptable only to the gambling industry and have been conclusively rejected by over 10,000 concerned individuals and animal welfare organisations because of their inadequacies in regulation and extension to kennelling and retirement; and further calls on the Government to ensure that hon. Members are given adequate opportunity to consider the provisions of any regulation laid before the House before being asked to decide on them.

The EDM and petition gave us a glimmer of hope. The number of MPs supporting the EDM reached 105, which means it is in the top 5% of all EDMs. There are 500 EDMs and only 26 have more support than the greyhound EDM. This means the EDM gains greater profile on the DEFRA Minister's priority list.

As for the petition, about 1550 people signed the petition. When it gains more than 500 signatures, a government minister has to respond. The petition has some high profile signatures: Annette Crosbie, Jilly Cooper and Joanna Lumley.

While it is disheartening that our collective best efforts for making a true difference for greyhounds may have been in vain, we are keeping our fingers crossed that the par-liamentary pressure will bring about significant change. If not, all we will be able to do is to continue to raise funds to make a better life for the greyhounds in rescue and hope that the slow demise of the racing industry quickens in pace.

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