A global problem you can solve
Greyhound racing is cruel and inhumane and must stop. At least 50,000 innocent hounds are now racing at over 100 tracks worldwide. They face injury and death, drugging (and worse) at every turn.
Please sign this important petition and send a message to US President Joe Biden and to all the leaders of dog racing countries, asking them to outlaw racing and set the greyhounds free!
Greyhounds suffer terrible injuries and die
Whether in Wheeling, West Virginia or Sydney, Australia, greyhounds risk their lives every time they are sent to the track. Common injuries include broken legs, broken backs and necks, dislocations, torn muscles, paralysis and crushed skulls. Some dogs are even electrocuted.
In the United Kingdom, over the last five years alone, nearly 23,000 injuries and more than 1,000 track fatalities have been reported. Ireland reported an additional 715 racing deaths and New Zealand documented 2,571 dead greyhounds between 2014 and 2021. Over 20,000 injuries and over 3,000 deaths occurred in Australia between 2020 and 2021. In the US state of Florida alone, a dog was killed every three days.
Some greyhounds die on the track while others are put down due to the severity of their injuries, or simply because of their diminished value as racers!
According to official records, 6,000 Irish greyhounds are killed each year for not being fast enough. In Vietnam, no dogs survive racing at all. In Australia 17,000 healthy greyhounds are destroyed each year and in Mexico, no records are kept as to the fate of dogs at the Agua Caliente track. Most disappear from record.
Dog racing has a drug problem
Racing dogs routinely test positive for serious, prohibited drugs. Cocaine, morphine and amphetamines are found in greyhounds with alarming regularity. Since 2008, there have been 640 drug-related rulings in the US and hundreds more in Great Britain. Irish breeders have been found to have drugged their dogs over 200 times since 2012, including with pentobarbital, a euthanasia agent administered to slow down dogs and fix races.
The end of dog racing is in sight
Thankfully, the global decline of greyhound racing has been ongoing for years. Between 2001 and 2014, the last year of disclosure, the total amount gambled on American greyhound racing declined by 70%. Nineteen tracks have since gone out of business and the number of US tracks will soon be reduced to just two nationwide. In the United Kingdom, all of the London dog tracks have been shuttered and the RSPCA, Dogs Trust and the Blue Cross have now joined calls to end this cruelty across the British Isles.
In 2018, the Macau government ordered the closure of the Canidrome, the only legal dog track in China, ending the deaths of 400 dogs per year and opening up acres of land for good public use. Additionally, Jamaica refused to legalize dog racing in 2009 and South Africa followed in 2010, citing concerns about the poor economics and humane problems associated with greyhound gambling.
The greyhounds need you now.
Dog racing is still legal and operational in seven countries! Please join us by signing our petition and generating an email to the leaders of Australia, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam today. Please sign and share our petition now.
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