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WALTHAMSTOW STADIUM - PLEASE ASK THESE COMPANIES TO SAVE THE GREYHOUNDS!
Please read the press release below, which we have sent to national, London and Walthamstow area media, and write to the three companies mentioned, asking them to please make sure that greyhound racing ends at Walthamstow Stadium.
We want to make sure they press ahead with their plans for house-building and do not get persuaded to allow dog racing to continue.
E-mail addresses are as follows:-
K W Linfoot - info@kwlinfootplc.com
Yoo Capital - info@yoo.com
Quadrant Housing Trust (London & Quadrant Group) - qsl@lqgroup.org.uk
Please feel free to forward/crosspost/circulate this message.
Tony Peters, UK Co-ordinator, Greyhound Action
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release
PLEA TO BUILDERS - "SAVE THE GREYHOUNDS!"
Companies urged to put an end to dog racing at Walthamstow
Greyhound protection campaigners are urging property developers, who have recently bought Walthamstow Stadium in North-East London, to put an end to greyhound racing there once and for all.
The companies - K W Linfoot, Yoo Capital and London and Quadrant Housing Trust - paid £31.5 million for the stadium in May, with the intention of using the land for housing, but are now coming under pressure from dog racing enthusiasts to either re-sell or rent the property, so that it can continue to be used as a greyhound track.
This latest move is being opposed by international greyhound protection group, Greyhound Action, who claim that the existence of the stadium is "responsible for the deaths of over 500 greyhounds every year".
Greyhound Action's UK Co-ordinator, Tony Peters, said: "We will be writing to the three companies, urging them to continue with their house-building plans at Walthamstow, so that greyhound racing can no longer take place there.
"They are in a unique position to prevent the slaughter of hundreds of greyhounds every year and we are asking them to recognise this and not to sell or rent the stadium for dog racing.
"According to our research, about 15,000 young greyhounds, bred for the British dog racing industry, are put to death every year, after failing to make the grade as racers. Many of these never even make their trials and get killed as young pups, as soon as it becomes obvious that they will be no good for racing.
"Several thousand older dogs also get 'put down' annually, after their racing days come to an end.
"This means that, as one of Britain's 30 major greyhound stadiums, the existence of a track like Walthamstow is responsible for the slaughter of over 500 greyhounds annually.
"This is despite the efforts of local greyhound rescue groups, who do excellent work in finding homes for some of the dogs that 'retire' from racing at the stadium.
"Thousands of injuries, many of them serious, are caused to greyhounds racing on British tracks every year, because the shape of the tracks, with long straights leading into tight bends, creates a very dangerous environment for the dogs to run in.
"Rescued greyhounds often suffer considerably in later life because of the unnatural stresses and strains imposed on their bodies through racing on the tracks
"In recent years, national media exposés have highlighted the wholesale slaughter of ex-racing greyhounds and several mass graves containing the bodies of shot greyhounds have been discovered in various parts of the country.
"Greyhound racing also causes the death of many thousands of other dogs apart from greyhounds, as places in homes and rescue kennels, which could go to other stray and 'unwanted' dogs, are taken up by greyhounds got rid of by the racing industry, meaning that those other dogs are 'put down'
because there is nowhere for them to go.
"The rules of the National Greyhound Racing Club, the body that controls dog racing at Britain's major tracks, encourage greyhounds to be treated as disposable commodities, by allowing racing owners to get rid of dogs, including having them put to death, once they are no longer of use for racing.
"Greyhound Action believes that the only real solution to this horrific state of affairs is for the greyhound racing industry to be brought to an end.
"Six states in the USA have banned commercial greyhound racing in recent years, so there is no reason why a such ban shouldn't be imposed in the UK. This could easily be done by making it illegal to place or accept bets on dog racing, which we are urging the government to do.
"In the meantime it is important to educate the public to boycott greyhound racing. If enough people refrained from attending dog tracks and stopped betting on greyhound races, then the activity would die out through lack of financial support."
For more information, contact Tony Peters on 01562 700 043 or 07703 558724.
See also the Greyhound Action website at www.greyhoundaction.org.uk
References:
www.itvlocal.com/london/news/?void=218231
www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/search/display.var.2411777.0.chingford_cash_bid_to_save_the_stow.php
_______________________________________________
Website: www.greyhoundaction.org.uk
MySpace: www.myspace.com/greyhoundaction
Please read the press release below, which we have sent to national, London and Walthamstow area media, and write to the three companies mentioned, asking them to please make sure that greyhound racing ends at Walthamstow Stadium.
We want to make sure they press ahead with their plans for house-building and do not get persuaded to allow dog racing to continue.
E-mail addresses are as follows:-
K W Linfoot - info@kwlinfootplc.com
Yoo Capital - info@yoo.com
Quadrant Housing Trust (London & Quadrant Group) - qsl@lqgroup.org.uk
Please feel free to forward/crosspost/circulate this message.
Tony Peters, UK Co-ordinator, Greyhound Action
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release
PLEA TO BUILDERS - "SAVE THE GREYHOUNDS!"
Companies urged to put an end to dog racing at Walthamstow
Greyhound protection campaigners are urging property developers, who have recently bought Walthamstow Stadium in North-East London, to put an end to greyhound racing there once and for all.
The companies - K W Linfoot, Yoo Capital and London and Quadrant Housing Trust - paid £31.5 million for the stadium in May, with the intention of using the land for housing, but are now coming under pressure from dog racing enthusiasts to either re-sell or rent the property, so that it can continue to be used as a greyhound track.
This latest move is being opposed by international greyhound protection group, Greyhound Action, who claim that the existence of the stadium is "responsible for the deaths of over 500 greyhounds every year".
Greyhound Action's UK Co-ordinator, Tony Peters, said: "We will be writing to the three companies, urging them to continue with their house-building plans at Walthamstow, so that greyhound racing can no longer take place there.
"They are in a unique position to prevent the slaughter of hundreds of greyhounds every year and we are asking them to recognise this and not to sell or rent the stadium for dog racing.
"According to our research, about 15,000 young greyhounds, bred for the British dog racing industry, are put to death every year, after failing to make the grade as racers. Many of these never even make their trials and get killed as young pups, as soon as it becomes obvious that they will be no good for racing.
"Several thousand older dogs also get 'put down' annually, after their racing days come to an end.
"This means that, as one of Britain's 30 major greyhound stadiums, the existence of a track like Walthamstow is responsible for the slaughter of over 500 greyhounds annually.
"This is despite the efforts of local greyhound rescue groups, who do excellent work in finding homes for some of the dogs that 'retire' from racing at the stadium.
"Thousands of injuries, many of them serious, are caused to greyhounds racing on British tracks every year, because the shape of the tracks, with long straights leading into tight bends, creates a very dangerous environment for the dogs to run in.
"Rescued greyhounds often suffer considerably in later life because of the unnatural stresses and strains imposed on their bodies through racing on the tracks
"In recent years, national media exposés have highlighted the wholesale slaughter of ex-racing greyhounds and several mass graves containing the bodies of shot greyhounds have been discovered in various parts of the country.
"Greyhound racing also causes the death of many thousands of other dogs apart from greyhounds, as places in homes and rescue kennels, which could go to other stray and 'unwanted' dogs, are taken up by greyhounds got rid of by the racing industry, meaning that those other dogs are 'put down'
because there is nowhere for them to go.
"The rules of the National Greyhound Racing Club, the body that controls dog racing at Britain's major tracks, encourage greyhounds to be treated as disposable commodities, by allowing racing owners to get rid of dogs, including having them put to death, once they are no longer of use for racing.
"Greyhound Action believes that the only real solution to this horrific state of affairs is for the greyhound racing industry to be brought to an end.
"Six states in the USA have banned commercial greyhound racing in recent years, so there is no reason why a such ban shouldn't be imposed in the UK. This could easily be done by making it illegal to place or accept bets on dog racing, which we are urging the government to do.
"In the meantime it is important to educate the public to boycott greyhound racing. If enough people refrained from attending dog tracks and stopped betting on greyhound races, then the activity would die out through lack of financial support."
For more information, contact Tony Peters on 01562 700 043 or 07703 558724.
See also the Greyhound Action website at www.greyhoundaction.org.uk
References:
www.itvlocal.com/london/news/?void=218231
www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/search/display.var.2411777.0.chingford_cash_bid_to_save_the_stow.php
_______________________________________________
Website: www.greyhoundaction.org.uk
MySpace: www.myspace.com/greyhoundaction
