Latest research by investigative group Greyhound Watch (GW) indicates that almost 10,500 greyhounds are now being put to death annually, because of the existence of the British dog racing industry.
Tables produced by GW (based on information provided by the British and Irish greyhound racing and breeding industries) can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/GreyhoundsKilled2010
The estimated figure of 10,442 deaths annually, is, of course, horrific, but the good news for greyhounds is that it is almost 1,800 fewer than the previous year (see http://tinyurl.com/GreyhoundsKilled2009).
The reason for this encouraging fall in the greyhound death-toll is because fewer of these dogs are now being bred to be used as commodities by the racing industry. This decline in breeding is due to a fall in demand, brought about by the closure of tracks and a reduction in the number of greyhound races taking place (down by over 2,000 from 2009).
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| Demos at Coventry Stadium helped force the track there to close |
Greyhound racing also causes the deaths 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.
Therefore, the latest figures are also good news for non-greyhound dogs, as the fewer greyhounds that are "disposed of", the more chance there is of "unwanted" other dogs being able to find homes.
See http://greyhound-watch.blogspot.com/2011/02/track-closures-benefit-greyhounds.html for an excellent Greyhound Watch article on how track closures benefit greyhounds.
