Dog Days may soon be over at Oxford Stadium (From thisisoxfordshire)

Sadly with the crazy cost of housing these days, it is more profitable to sack all the workers associated with the stadium, deny all the patrons their pleasure, and build houses on it. In a few years all that our grandkids will see of our culture is what they can watch on Youtube.

I suppose if the TCP Mob manage to inhibit the building of a gorgeous new pool adjacent to the BBL Leisure centre - it could always be built on the site of the (soon to be) former dog track. It would have the advantage of being even closer to the notorious old pool, still close to the bus-route via a short stroll along Tucker Road for the No1 or No5 and along Sandy Lane for the No12 or No101. ...
Maybe even a wide footbridge over the railway for access to the Ambassador retail park.

The end of racing would mean the end of a handful of jobs, but it would also mean the end of a cruel and inhumane endeavor that costs thousands of greyhound lives every year. I believe the latest estimate was over 20,000 greyhounds killed every year in the UK. The vast majority of these are dogs who could live long and wonderful lives, but they don't get the chance because if they can't win, they're not going to make money, and are therefore a liability. I can only hope that someday, children will only know about the exploitation and cruelty of greyhound racing by watching old videos on YouTube. Just as children in the US can watch videos of race riots surrounding desegregation of schools, and Irish children can watch the Catholic vs. Protestant fighting on YouTube. For the sake of the greyhounds, Oxford Stadium should be closed and greyhound racing around the world should be ended as a cruel and inhumane industry.

Eric_NM wrote:
The end of racing would mean the end of a handful of jobs, but it would also mean the end of a cruel and inhumane endeavor that costs thousands of greyhound lives every year. I believe the latest estimate was over 20,000 greyhounds killed every year in the UK. The vast majority of these are dogs who could live long and wonderful lives, but they don't get the chance because if they can't win, they're not going to make money, and are therefore a liability. I can only hope that someday, children will only know about the exploitation and cruelty of greyhound racing by watching old videos on YouTube. Just as children in the US can watch videos of race riots surrounding desegregation of schools, and Irish children can watch the Catholic vs. Protestant fighting on YouTube. For the sake of the greyhounds, Oxford Stadium should be closed and greyhound racing around the world should be ended as a cruel and inhumane industry.

Utter rubbish. Greyhounds love to race and are treated like royalty by their trainers. When they retire make very intelligent and loving pets. They have far better lives then many people living in poverty in your country!

You clearly have no clue about racing other than the claptrap PETA et al. spout.

Why don’t you use your real name iklhik - what have you to hide?
Greyhounds love to run but sadly they’re culled in their thousands by this exploitative gambling industry because they either fail to chase or are too slow to make the grade.

Greyhounds are treated as inanimate objects and are disposed of as quickly and as cheaply as possible once they become a financial liability. Under Rule 18 of the Greyhound Racing Rules – healthy dogs are destroyed in their thousands because either ‘No retirement home can be found’ or ‘injury uneconomical to treat’


Rather than reflect over the years she has provided a gambling unit for the betting industry as a ‘supplier’ – Angie Kibble needs to reflect on the hundreds of thousands of greyhounds that will have been bred and destroyed to sustain the industry over those 50 years.

Were those lives worth it Ms Kibble?


Trudy Baker
www.greytexploitatio
ns.com

Eric_NM wrote:
The end of racing would mean the end of a handful of jobs, but it would also mean the end of a cruel and inhumane endeavor that costs thousands of greyhound lives every year. I believe the latest estimate was over 20,000 greyhounds killed every year in the UK. The vast majority of these are dogs who could live long and wonderful lives, but they don't get the chance because if they can't win, they're not going to make money, and are therefore a liability. I can only hope that someday, children will only know about the exploitation and cruelty of greyhound racing by watching old videos on YouTube. Just as children in the US can watch videos of race riots surrounding desegregation of schools, and Irish children can watch the Catholic vs. Protestant fighting on YouTube. For the sake of the greyhounds, Oxford Stadium should be closed and greyhound racing around the world should be ended as a cruel and inhumane industry.

i can't resist ripping in to you! first up what the hell have catholics and protestants got to do with greyhounds? secondly yes greyhounds may be culled, i think your stats are well off the mark though. to cull 20k p/a would mean 54 per day average. Only 6 dogs run and the UK only has 28 tracks to my knowledge. this would mean for every race run one third of the dogs are killed! it would be less economic to kill them as the breeding required to replace the dogs would far outstrip having the dogs. lets not forget, its hardly the lucrative world of horse racing. oh and thirdly, the dogs only exist because they have been bred. so without racing they wouldnt be able to 'live out' their lives because they wouldnt even exist!

Greyhound racing continues to slowly fade away, due to major decreases in funding and prize money. Younger people aren't interested in becoming owners and trainers due to the same reasons. These gentle dogs should not be used whilst they can make a little money and amuse and entertain the minority.
Latest research :Over 15,000 greyhound disappear, are killed, every year in the UK
The injury rate is very high, due to the fast straights leading into tight bends. Once a greyhound is injured, they are no longer a financially viable object and are then dispensed with in various ways. The Retired Greyhound Trust kennels have had to close some of their and consequently there are long waiting lists of greyhounds waiting to be taken in. In the meantime, when trainers don't want the expense of feeding and kenneling them, they 'get rid of them'. The Greyhound Board of Great Britain allows for healthy dogs to be killed. Rule 18.
"Trainers are leaving the industry in their droves", reported in the Racing Post, a few weeks back.
Better to provide homes and other leisure or educational passtimes for people and finally put an end to this greyhound racing death industry.

Am keeping my fingers firmly crossed in the hope that greyhounds will soon no longer race at Oxford.
One less stadium will mean fewer dogs killed and injured year after year.
I have to say I'm stunned by the naivety of the pro-racing lobbyists who claim to be concerned about greyhound welfare yet won't accept the figures published by their own governing body. Ostriches have got nothing on you lot!

It is really interesting to read that people who support the Oxford track seem oblivious to the plight of the dogs that do not make the grade. There has been many articles in the news and even pieces on the local television stations about individuals who have been involved in killing hundreds of dogs. I cannot understand how anyone who follows greyhound racing could have missed them. This is why people are campaigning to close down the tracks, not because Mr & Mrs B... have a dog they love and race it every so often but because of the big business that turns a blind eye to the death and destruction of thousands of dogs. If anyone is still in doubt about this being a money orientated business they only need to look at who has a large stake in the GRA, Risk Capital and one of the partners of this company is Bobby Hashemi. Worth googling Bobby, he has got some interesting links.

iklhik wrote:

Eric_NM wrote:
The end of racing would mean the end of a handful of jobs, but it would also mean the end of a cruel and inhumane endeavor that costs thousands of greyhound lives every year. I believe the latest estimate was over 20,000 greyhounds killed every year in the UK. The vast majority of these are dogs who could live long and wonderful lives, but they don't get the chance because if they can't win, they're not going to make money, and are therefore a liability. I can only hope that someday, children will only know about the exploitation and cruelty of greyhound racing by watching old videos on YouTube. Just as children in the US can watch videos of race riots surrounding desegregation of schools, and Irish children can watch the Catholic vs. Protestant fighting on YouTube. For the sake of the greyhounds, Oxford Stadium should be closed and greyhound racing around the world should be ended as a cruel and inhumane industry.

Utter rubbish. Greyhounds love to race and are treated like royalty by their trainers. When they retire make very intelligent and loving pets. They have far better lives then many people living in poverty in your country!

You clearly have no clue about racing other than the claptrap PETA et al. spout.

What's rubbish is the nonsense you're spewing about greyhounds loving to run and being treated like royalty. If greyhounds love to run so much, why are they kept in cages for more than 20 hours per day? Why don't they get to do any of the other things they love to do? As for being treated like royalty, most royalty aren't killed. But for greyhounds, the end of their racing career too often means the end of their lives, too. These dogs are treated like tools, not like live animals. Far too few end up in loving homes where they belong. I'd venture to say I probably know a lot more than you do about racing and the inhumanity and cruelty of this industry.

robbo81 wrote:

Eric_NM wrote:
The end of racing would mean the end of a handful of jobs, but it would also mean the end of a cruel and inhumane endeavor that costs thousands of greyhound lives every year. I believe the latest estimate was over 20,000 greyhounds killed every year in the UK. The vast majority of these are dogs who could live long and wonderful lives, but they don't get the chance because if they can't win, they're not going to make money, and are therefore a liability. I can only hope that someday, children will only know about the exploitation and cruelty of greyhound racing by watching old videos on YouTube. Just as children in the US can watch videos of race riots surrounding desegregation of schools, and Irish children can watch the Catholic vs. Protestant fighting on YouTube. For the sake of the greyhounds, Oxford Stadium should be closed and greyhound racing around the world should be ended as a cruel and inhumane industry.

i can't resist ripping in to you! first up what the hell have catholics and protestants got to do with greyhounds? secondly yes greyhounds may be culled, i think your stats are well off the mark though. to cull 20k p/a would mean 54 per day average. Only 6 dogs run and the UK only has 28 tracks to my knowledge. this would mean for every race run one third of the dogs are killed! it would be less economic to kill them as the breeding required to replace the dogs would far outstrip having the dogs. lets not forget, its hardly the lucrative world of horse racing. oh and thirdly, the dogs only exist because they have been bred. so without racing they wouldnt be able to 'live out' their lives because they wouldnt even exist!

Greyhounds being culled is not a possibility, it's absolutely a fact. I'm not following your logic in regards to numbers, if there is a logic to it. The dogs only exist because they've been bred? Well, yes. So? Since they've been bred they should be killed? Again, your logic eludes me. Perhaps you're trying to claim there wouldn't be greyhounds if there wasn't racing. If that's the case, then you're still making no sense, because the greyhound is one of the older breeds in the world. They existed long before some twit thought to have punters place bets on them, and they'll be here long after the last punter has wandered away from a shuttered track.

The bottom line is, greyhound racing is cruel and inhumane and should be stopped.

Eric_NM wrote:

robbo81 wrote:

Eric_NM wrote: The end of racing would mean the end of a handful of jobs, but it would also mean the end of a cruel and inhumane endeavor that costs thousands of greyhound lives every year. I believe the latest estimate was over 20,000 greyhounds killed every year in the UK. The vast majority of these are dogs who could live long and wonderful lives, but they don't get the chance because if they can't win, they're not going to make money, and are therefore a liability. I can only hope that someday, children will only know about the exploitation and cruelty of greyhound racing by watching old videos on YouTube. Just as children in the US can watch videos of race riots surrounding desegregation of schools, and Irish children can watch the Catholic vs. Protestant fighting on YouTube. For the sake of the greyhounds, Oxford Stadium should be closed and greyhound racing around the world should be ended as a cruel and inhumane industry.

i can't resist ripping in to you! first up what the hell have catholics and protestants got to do with greyhounds? secondly yes greyhounds may be culled, i think your stats are well off the mark though. to cull 20k p/a would mean 54 per day average. Only 6 dogs run and the UK only has 28 tracks to my knowledge. this would mean for every race run one third of the dogs are killed! it would be less economic to kill them as the breeding required to replace the dogs would far outstrip having the dogs. lets not forget, its hardly the lucrative world of horse racing. oh and thirdly, the dogs only exist because they have been bred. so without racing they wouldnt be able to 'live out' their lives because they wouldnt even exist!

Greyhounds being culled is not a possibility, it's absolutely a fact. I'm not following your logic in regards to numbers, if there is a logic to it. The dogs only exist because they've been bred? Well, yes. So? Since they've been bred they should be killed? Again, your logic eludes me. Perhaps you're trying to claim there wouldn't be greyhounds if there wasn't racing. If that's the case, then you're still making no sense, because the greyhound is one of the older breeds in the world. They existed long before some twit thought to have punters place bets on them, and they'll be here long after the last punter has wandered away from a shuttered track. The bottom line is, greyhound racing is cruel and inhumane and should be stopped.

how do you not understand? is it because you can't do maths or because you simply don't want to understand? It's simple, you say 20k killed per annum. There's 365 days in a year, that's 54 dogs per day, assuming they race each day. 6 dogs start in a line up and the UK has 28 dog tracks that I know of, so basically if 20k are killed then that would mean one third of those that race each day are being killed. I find that hard to believe - as how would they replaced so the trainer can race more dogs the next week? The logic of costs comes in as dogs are expensive animals to keep, they require space, food, exercise and training. They're not ready to race until theyre juniors so in the meantime need keeping at a hig cost. Yet when they do race the returns aren't high, so how is it commercially viable for a trainer to want their dogs to be killed. Most are killed due to their age, eg they can longer race and the trainer can't afford to keep them yet no homes are found for them. So in your argument that greyhounds are popular well loved dogs of an old breed, obviously this isn't so true as no new owners can be found for them. and yes if it wasn't for racing, they wouldn't exist. It's not as if the UK is full of stray, feral greyhounds! I'm not saying im for racing, or for the killing of these dogs but I can't see how in the future if we stop racing that suddenly greyhounds will see a surge in their popularity or what any of it has to do with protestants and catholics (as per your first comment?!)

Straight questions to Robbo81;
1) How many greyhounds do you think are killed each year in the UK, and
2) What for you would be an acceptable number of deaths as "collateral damage"?

Robbo - I don't understand because your logic doesn't make sense. You said, "There's 365 days in a year, that's 54 dogs per day, assuming they race each day. 6 dogs start in a line up and the UK has 28 dog tracks that I know of". Great, so if each track ran one race per day, with six unique dogs in each race, that would mean 28 x 6 x 365 = 61320 dogs. But none of the basic tenets make sense, except the fact that there are six greyhounds per race. Not every track races every day. Tracks run more than one race when they do race. So, nothing about your numbers says anything about the statement that approximately 20,000 dogs are killed each year in the UK.

You also said, "Most are killed due to their age, eg they can longer race and the trainer can't afford to keep them yet no homes are found for them." So, it's acceptable to you to kill an otherwise healthy greyhound because they can't run fast enough to keep winning? That's disgusting to me. There are plenty of groups working to put every greyhound in a loving home, but there are far too many owners who continue to view greyhounds as tools, and when they're no longer useful, they're discarded.

If you want more honest information about the plight of UK greyhounds, I direct you to www.greytexploitatio
ns.com - a UK-based greyhound advocacy group.

Finally, if you go back and read my original comments, you'll find that the comment about Protestants and Catholics was a reference to things that children will (hopefully) experience only through books and YouTube videos. Clearly that was too obscure a reference for you, so I've not belabored the point.

I look forward to your responses to the two questions posed directly to you by Roggie from Suffolk.

RoggieB wrote:
Straight questions to Robbo81; 1) How many greyhounds do you think are killed each year in the UK, and 2) What for you would be an acceptable number of deaths as "collateral damage"?

1) i don't know but apparently it's 20k which I merely pointed out i find it hard to believe
2) personally none but i was pointing out that people state greyhounds are some wonder dog, that every dog lover wants to have and blah blah blah, so if that's the case why does nobody want them? and if people are so against dog racing why does it get such a turnout?
The fact i was alluding to more is, the dogs that are put down are bred for racing, no it isn't acceptable to kill them as theyve passed their use but to say the world would have 20k more greyhounds per year if dog racing was banned is absolute rubbish!
Also out of interest more than anything why does nobody ever get on the back of horse racing? I read a statistic after the grand national that for every 100 starters in a steeplechase 4 horses are put to sleep. My other annoyance with the original poster stems from the fact that he is from the USA, that's not xenophobic but I dont want his opinions on what should and shouldn't exist in the town where i pay my taxes. I don't care what his morals support. There's more to the dog track, what happens to the go-karting business based there? what about the function rooms and facilities it provides? Going back to the original story it seems that Oxford council want to sell off or buy off any land that exists for public pleasure or public benefit for example every city car park, the parks, the public toilets, allotments, pubs, shopping centres, dog tracks.

robbo81 wrote:

RoggieB wrote:
Straight questions to Robbo81; 1) How many greyhounds do you think are killed each year in the UK, and 2) What for you would be an acceptable number of deaths as "collateral damage"?

1) i don't know but apparently it's 20k which I merely pointed out i find it hard to believe
2) personally none but i was pointing out that people state greyhounds are some wonder dog, that every dog lover wants to have and blah blah blah, so if that's the case why does nobody want them? and if people are so against dog racing why does it get such a turnout?
The fact i was alluding to more is, the dogs that are put down are bred for racing, no it isn't acceptable to kill them as theyve passed their use but to say the world would have 20k more greyhounds per year if dog racing was banned is absolute rubbish!
Also out of interest more than anything why does nobody ever get on the back of horse racing? I read a statistic after the grand national that for every 100 starters in a steeplechase 4 horses are put to sleep. My other annoyance with the original poster stems from the fact that he is from the USA, that's not xenophobic but I dont want his opinions on what should and shouldn't exist in the town where i pay my taxes. I don't care what his morals support. There's more to the dog track, what happens to the go-karting business based there? what about the function rooms and facilities it provides? Going back to the original story it seems that Oxford council want to sell off or buy off any land that exists for public pleasure or public benefit for example every city car park, the parks, the public toilets, allotments, pubs, shopping centres, dog tracks.

Robbo, there are plenty of people who want greyhounds, but there are far more of them bred every year to feed the racing industry than can be easily homed. When, not if, dog racing is banned, there will be a lot fewer dogs bred every year because there won't be a ready market for the dogs to be dumped into. Nobody has ever said there would be 20K more greyhounds per year. Without racing, there wouldn't be so many bred, so there wouldn't be so many culled.

As for the "turnout" for greyhound racing, did you not read the article? The whole point is greyhound racing is losing popularity everywhere, including Oxford stadium.

As for horse racing, there are plenty of advocacy groups that are opposed to it, but this was a discussion about greyhound racing.

I know your morals don't extend to anyone outside your own narrow circle, but my morals do extend to greyhounds around the world, including those in the UK, the US, and other countries.

Robbo, you can read more about the declining popularity of this cruel and inhumane industry in the Wall Street Journal - http://online.wsj.co
m/article/SB10001424
05270230425930457637
5280934927812.html?m
od=googlenews_wsj#ar
ticleTabs%3Darticle

Greyhound racing is cruel and inhumane. Greyhounds endure lives of nearly constant confinement, kept in cages barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around. While racing, many dogs suffer and die from injuries including broken legs, paralysis, and cardiac arrest. And many greyhounds are euthanized every year, as the number retired from racing exceeds the number of adoptive homes.

At racetracks across the country, greyhounds endure lives of confinement. According to industry statements, greyhounds are generally confined in their cages for approximately 20 hours per day. They live inside warehouse-style kennels in stacked cages that are barely large enough to stand up or turn around. Generally, shredded paper or carpet remnants are used as bedding.

An undercover video recently released by GREY2K USA shows the conditions in which these gentle dogs are forced to live: http://www.grey2kusa
.org/azVideo.html

For more information on injuries these dogs suffer, please view:


http://www.grey2kusa
.org/azInjuries.html


http://www.grey2kusa
.org/eNEWS/G2K-02281
1Email.html

Dogs play an important role in our lives and deserve to be protected from industries and individuals that do them harm.

Val Wolf Board Member, GREY2K USA

Val Wolf wrote:
Greyhound racing is cruel and inhumane. Greyhounds endure lives of nearly constant confinement, kept in cages barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around. While racing, many dogs suffer and die from injuries including broken legs, paralysis, and cardiac arrest. And many greyhounds are euthanized every year, as the number retired from racing exceeds the number of adoptive homes. At racetracks across the country, greyhounds endure lives of confinement. According to industry statements, greyhounds are generally confined in their cages for approximately 20 hours per day. They live inside warehouse-style kennels in stacked cages that are barely large enough to stand up or turn around. Generally, shredded paper or carpet remnants are used as bedding. An undercover video recently released by GREY2K USA shows the conditions in which these gentle dogs are forced to live: http://www.grey2kusa .org/azVideo.html For more information on injuries these dogs suffer, please view: http://www.grey2kusa .org/azInjuries.html http://www.grey2kusa .org/eNEWS/G2K-02281 1Email.html Dogs play an important role in our lives and deserve to be protected from industries and individuals that do them harm. Val Wolf Board Member, GREY2K USA

Greyhounds in this country are NOT kept in cages. My own trainers dogs' kennels have individual runs which they have access to all day. Any greyhound I have owned (that i have not taken home with me) has been rehomed through a rehoming scheme to which I have willingly paid hundreds of pounds to cover neuturing etc and ensure the right home is found for them.
Racing greyhounds in this country are better looked after than many pet dogs. They are fed appropriate food, exercised, wormed regularly, vaccinated and checked by the vet every time they race.

It is true that greyhounds are not kept in small cages that they cannot even stand up in and stacked, one on top of the other, as in the US.
But, whilst Ellems may be as stated, sadly there are many other greyhound racing kennels that are appalling and, even if they are kept as ellem above says; racing greyhound injuries sustained whilst racing are incredibly high, dogs, that with age, become slower and either need vet attention and then re-homing are, abandoned, poisoned, beaten to death, drowned, mutilated with ears cut off(so that owners cannot be traced by their tattoo numbers), PTS at dog pounds,shot.
I repeat: Latest research tells us that over 15,000 greyhounds, every year, disappear, presumed killed. The RGT kennels have long waiting lists of greyhounds needing re-homing. The independent rescues struggle to take in greyhounds and are mostly reduced to saving greyhoungs from being PTS at the pounds.
Trainers want to get rid of reject dogs that are no longer financially viable because they have "new stock arriving" and that's when RULE 18 becomes very handy. Retirement Form on GB GB website - Section D - No home or retirement placement could be found", (this can be used and gives the owner permission to have the healthy greyhound killed)-so much for the Greyhound Board of Great Britains constant talk of high greyhound welfare standards.

All greyhounds racing at gbgb tracks now have microchips so cutting off their ears will not stop identification.
Sadly, all breeds of dogs are victims of abuse, not just greyhounds. The two worst cases of abuse I have seen were greyhounds rescued from pet homes where they had been neglected and starved.
Some of the greyhounds that
"disappear" are taken home by their owners or rehomed privately.

ellemm wrote:
All greyhounds racing at gbgb tracks now have microchips so cutting off their ears will not stop identification.
Sadly, all breeds of dogs are victims of abuse, not just greyhounds. The two worst cases of abuse I have seen were greyhounds rescued from pet homes where they had been neglected and starved.
Some of the greyhounds that
"disappear" are taken home by their owners or rehomed privately.

You're right, Ellemm, but the cruelty of greyhound racing is institutionalized. Certainly, some of the dogs who disappear have been rehomed by their owner/trainer, but how many of the approximately 15,000? It's one of those nasty little details that the industry would prefer the public not dwell on too much. A thinking public is the worst enemy of the greyhound industry.