“You can’t force a Dog to Run”
That is a sentence used by practically every pro-greyhound racing supporter at some stage during any greyhound racing argument. And there’s a kernel of truth there, you can’t stop a dog from running, and Greyhound do indeed love to run and have a genetic instinct to chase. But what happens when the dog doesn’t want to run?
This is Greyhound “Songful Bird”. She is 23 months old, born and bred in Ireland, exported and racing in the UK. Whilst being loaded into Trap Two at Kinsley Greyhound Track, Songful Bird very clearly did not want to enter the box and struggled to get away from the steward/handler. She made a break from the box but was pinned to the ground by Four grown men and roughly manhandled back into the trap. Upon leaving the box, she veers dramatically across the track, almost clipping another dog and endangering the rest with her erratic running pattern. This is not a dog running for fun, but a dog, panicked and running in fear.
Songful Bird very clearly did not want to race at this occasion, and despite her attempt to flee, was forced into a situation where she was distressed, roughly handled and potentially suffered physically injury but the grown man falling ontop of her or the resulting blind panic run away from her aggressors. The race should have been stopped at the first sign of issue, or the very least, Songful Bird should have been pulled from the running. But the bookmakers were already set up and ready, and for them, the show must go on.
Very telling that none of the stewards present felt anything was wrong forcefully shoving the dog into the trap, and that neither a track vet or welfare officer stepped in at any point to remove the clearly distressed dog from the situation. If welfare was truly at the heart of Greyhound Racing, Songful Bird would not have been put through this abuse.
If you love Dogs, Dont Support Greyhound Racing.
TW: #AnimalAbuse, #DogAbuse, #PhysicalManhandling, #DogNeglect, #DistressedAnimal, #DistressedDog