Swindon Stadium

[orion]

1 hour ago, Gemini said:

 I absolutely hate the idea of animals being killed so humans can eat their bodies, especially the way some of them are killed but there you go that's the human race for you.  The majority of problems in the World are caused by them, but I suppose that's a different subject so we'll just have to agree to disagree on Greyhound Racing. 

My main point was that there are  people turning up for this meeting wanted the stadium to  be built but no Greyhound Racing  .Now no matter what side  of the fence you are on that is just plain stupid as business wise that would be impossible . 

[Dave Jones]

On 1/21/2020 at 10:57 AM, geoff58 said:

any signs of bulldozers around the Abbey ?? 

Only those "hovering" waiting to get started on the next run of new homes .

[Rob Lee]

On 1/14/2020 at 1:05 PM, Gemini said:

 I absolutely hate the idea of animals being killed so humans can eat their bodies, especially the way some of them are killed but there you go that's the human race for you.  The majority of problems in the World are caused by them, but I suppose that's a different subject so we'll just have to agree to disagree on Greyhound Racing. 

Animals eat other animals. It's natural and it's called the food chain - we just happen to be at the top of the food chain. Should we try to stop owls eating mice, lions eating antelopes etc? If birds and other little creatures didn't eat insects (they are God's creatures too), there'd be much less healthy grain for the vegans to eat.

[DC2]

On 1/13/2020 at 6:18 PM, Gemini said:

Really? Now I wonder what would be best ~ never being born or having to race? Greyhounds are not born that way they are trained by humans with money in mind as usual.  No good and they are discarded or sent to China to breed yet more of them, or eaten.  They are beautiful laid back dogs until trained differently. It's like saying all Border Collies are born to be working Sheep and live outdoors on a farm.  No farms = no Border Collies.  Perhaps you should take a look at the link below or look at CAGED Nationwide on Facebook. There are plenty of examples of how cruelly most of them are treated so would have been much better off never having been born.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/09/dog-breeder-let-three-greyhounds-starve-death-stuffed-one-freezer-12030888/?fbclid=IwAR3uCBdXviz4CnWQz2aIkybsv02v0KX66_RShXm7MC2C5sSGHYf13YNnVo4

 

How about the poor rabbit that they chase!  

 

[hans fan]

On 1/13/2020 at 6:18 PM, Gemini said:

Really? Now I wonder what would be best ~ never being born or having to race? Greyhounds are not born that way they are trained by humans with money in mind as usual.  No good and they are discarded or sent to China to breed yet more of them, or eaten.  They are beautiful laid back dogs until trained differently. It's like saying all Border Collies are born to be working Sheep and live outdoors on a farm.  No farms = no Border Collies.  Perhaps you should take a look at the link below or look at CAGED Nationwide on Facebook. There are plenty of examples of how cruelly most of them are treated so would have been much better off never having been born.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/09/dog-breeder-let-three-greyhounds-starve-death-stuffed-one-freezer-12030888/?fbclid=IwAR3uCBdXviz4CnWQz2aIkybsv02v0KX66_RShXm7MC2C5sSGHYf13YNnVo4

Don’t believe all the cack caged post   Rita James and co  need  help . they post Anything to get more donations 

[RobMcCaffery]

18 hours ago, DC2 said:

 

How about the poor rabbit that they chase!  

 

There's a song about them!

 

[orion]

19 hours ago, DC2 said:

 

How about the poor rabbit that they chase!  

 

Hair today gone tomorrow

[JessicaJones]

It’s sad that some people think it’s acceptable to use dead and injured greyhounds as collateral damage to support the speedway.  This is nothing to do with CAGED.  Most national newspapers have reported on the horrors of greyhound racing now.  Yes, not all owners/trainers etc etc but there are far, far too many who don’t care about their animals unfortunately - as the recent case of Clive Elliott showed.  For a nation of dog lovers, it is remarkable that we are only one of 7 countries in the world now that allows greyhound racing to continue.

Greyhounds have been around for thousands of years and only raced for about one hundred.  The breed will not die out if racing stops.

Speedway is important to the town so it would be great if other uses for the stadium could be found that support the speedway but allow the (loss making) greyhound racing to end.  

 

[Gemini]

On 1/24/2020 at 6:59 PM, hans fan said:

Don’t believe all the cack caged post   Rita James and co  need  help . they post Anything to get more donations 

I suppose they make up the photos as well? 

[JessicaJones]

Most national newspapers have reported on the state of the industry in the last few years.  The case of David Smith, who was exposed by the Sunday Times in 2006, was the start.  He was revealed to have killed an estimated 10,000 ex racing or unwanted greyhounds over 15 years.  It’s still going on now.  The lucky ones get rehomed or stay with their owners/trainers.  The unlucky ones get discarded.  

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/brit-greyhounds-raced-collapse-boiled-11630624

 

[hans fan]

7 hours ago, Gemini said:

I suppose they make up the photos as well? 

They have been known to doctor photos and make up lies lies lies.  times have changed 25 years a go owners trainers use to put dogs to sleep Without hesitation i don’t know anybody now   A few bad apples shouldn’t stop the sport .all greyhounds are not suitable for rehoming  most are the best companions you’ll ever have last one I had was 40kg would lick anybody to death . lie about all day  on sofa and be happy as pig in muck but as soon as it was walked see another dog or any animal you would think it was a wild lion sadly at 6 1/2 years he got cancer and had to be put down 

[greyhoundp]

1 hour ago, hans fan said:

They have been known to doctor photos and make up lies lies lies.  times have changed 25 years a go owners trainers use to put dogs to sleep Without hesitation i don’t know anybody now   A few bad apples shouldn’t stop the sport .all greyhounds are not suitable for rehoming  most are the best companions you’ll ever have last one I had was 40kg would lick anybody to death . lie about all day  on sofa and be happy as pig in muck but as soon as it was walked see another dog or any animal you would think it was a wild lion sadly at 6 1/2 years he got cancer and had to be put down 

Yes i had a Greyhound like that, he would bark and twist/jump around even if he saw his own reflection in a window, however that is not a reason to have him/her put down they just need the right responsible owners, I would actually like to know whats the yardstick when the "Not suitable for rehoming" is used ?, or is it just used as get out reason for putting a Greyhound to sleep.

[hans fan]

2 minutes ago, greyhoundp said:

Yes i had a Greyhound like that, he would bark and twist/jump around even if he saw his own reflection in a window, however that is not a reason to have him/her put down they just need the right responsible owners, I would actually like to know whats the yardstick when the "Not suitable for rehoming" is used ?, or is it just used as get out reason for putting a Greyhound to sleep.

The bad apples use it as a excuse thankfully vets are a lot more stringent now and don’t do it 

[MattK]

1 hour ago, hans fan said:

They have been known to doctor photos and make up lies lies lies.  times have changed 25 years a go owners trainers use to put dogs to sleep Without hesitation i don’t know anybody now   A few bad apples shouldn’t stop the sport .all greyhounds are not suitable for rehoming  most are the best companions you’ll ever have last one I had was 40kg would lick anybody to death . lie about all day  on sofa and be happy as pig in muck but as soon as it was walked see another dog or any animal you would think it was a wild lion sadly at 6 1/2 years he got cancer and had to be put down 

The Greyhound Board of Great Britain release their own report stating 1,000 dogs died in a single year, including 242 put down trackside and 324 which were put down because they could not be rehomed. This is only dogs which "retire" it doesn't include those which were being trained but were not considered suitable.

A report compiled for the Irish Greyhound Board concluded that on average 5,987 dogs were culled (slide 26) each year as they "failed to produce qualifying times" (2,673); "failure to produce desired entry level times" (1,989) and an "unacceptable decline in performance" (1,326).

Why would the greyhound governing bodies spread such lies about their own sports?

[JessicaJones]

And, as these are the “official” figures from the GBGB, they could be a lot higher.  The GBGB only publishes them because they were forced to by a House of Commons select committee.

David Smith, a builder’s merchant, shot around 10,000 greyhounds and only stopped because he was exposed in the national newspapers. The RTE documentary broadcast in June 2019 had some very disturbing footage of a greyhound being shot while the owner waited in the car for the collar to be returned.  Greyhounds are now ending up in China where they are used for breeding and then sent off for the dog meat trade where they face horrific ends.  The Irish Greyhound Board complained about the programme but the Irish broadcasting board dismissed their complaint.

The case of Clive Elliott - the greyhound trainer in Swindon - who was found guilty in early January of neglecting eight greyhounds (three of which were found dead in the house and one died a week later) and his own mother - shows how some of these dogs are treated.  https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/18147202.greyhound-stuffed-freezer-others-starved-swindon-dog-kennel/

The death or injury of any dog for entertainment purposes is surely unacceptable for anyone.  

The latest accounts of Gaming International show that the greyhound racing made a loss in 2018-19.  How long before the company says it can’t afford to run the stadium anymore and decides to close it down?  The speedway is great for Swindon and surely it would be better for the stadium owners to support it with other activities that have more of a future - it could be used as a conference centre, or for concerts or even be used as an athletics track.

However, from what others have said, and from looking at the history and accounts of Gaming International, it seems they have no intention of redeveloping this or any other track anyway.  

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by JessicaJones
To add a clarification point

[Gemini]

The ones sticking up for Greyhound Racing have suddenly gone rather quiet when faced with some facts rather than some glossed up fiction they'd rather believe about how well the dogs are treated. 

[Odds On]

has anyone on here actually been around or in racing kennels?..

 

[greyhoundp]

On 1/30/2020 at 12:11 PM, Odds On said:

has anyone on here actually been around or in racing kennels?..

 

 

Yep, firstly used to own one and paid to have it trained by someone, then found out it was possible to have my own permit licence, so took out my own licence and had the Greys at my place and Trained them, then i worked for a small (10 Greys Max) private Trainer in the North West and honestly he/we fed nothing but the best, and kept them as good as any dog thats in a household, they wanted for nothing, Duvets for bedding, groomed daily, massaged daily, walked 1 hour every day, Kennels disinfected daily, you could sleep in the Kennels and on occasion i did .

   The issue is mainly with Kennels/Trainers where there are large numbers of dogs these dogs simply dont have the staff to do a dog properly, and consist mainly of the dog being let out in the paddock whilst they clean out the Kennel maybe twice a day if they are lucky, they will certainly be fed twice daily though some of the food wouldnt be top quality, basically what im saying is they are NOT trained they are what i would call kept (keepers) not trained, its all to do with economics usually most not all Kennel staff are paid cash in hand, and its far from being minimum wage, my day used to start at 8 -00am and  finish at midnight on racedays, or a last turn out around 9-00 pm on none racedays, some other Kennels i was aware of would shut up at 6-00pm and shall we say open again at around 8-00 am thats 14 hours stuck in there Kennel, like i say the money is not there for Greyhounds to be looked after properly in most cases, most Kennel hands do it for the love certainly not for the money..

 However its a fact that there is good and bad everywhere, I lost 1 greyhound through a racing injury (Yes its one to many) and its not nice when it happens, another Greyhound bitch i gave to another Trainer for free, then found out when it (Bitch) was to old to race she gave it away to a guy who bred a litter from it with a Staffy then he put the bitch down with a gun, I wasnt best pleased when i found out..

   The problem with Greyhound racing is what happens when they are incapable of racing any more, many are disposed of simply so that they have room for another race dog.. I can honestly say i have never ever had a healthy dog put down except for illness or old age, and it cracks me up when it has to be done.. 

 

[False dawn]

1 hour ago, greyhoundp said:

...... I have never ever had a healthy dog put down except for illness or old age, and it cracks me up when it has to be done.. 

You clearly have an accurate profile of the greyhound "industry". I use the word advisedly. I own a grey. Actually he isn't 100% thoroughbred and he wasn't a racer (no tattoos). Probably a traveller owned hare coarser. The point is, that I have become acutely aware of the darker side of the racing world. Of course there are good trainers and many of them see their responsibility extending beyond the dog's useful racing life. But the significant minority that treat their dogs as commodities, to be discarded when they are no longer fast enough, cannot be ignored. Greyhounds that escape the racing world alive, are often timid in the extreme. I know, I've met many. Given a caring environment, many come round and demonstrate their true nature. And, at the  risk of repeating myself, you will not meet a kinder, more gentle, more loving creature on God's good Earth.

[teaboy279]

I remember last winter Lee Kilby saying the track was getting done last year and then the back straight stands done this winter (seem to recall the ready made stands in storage in Wales cropping up again.) And the home straight being next winter. Is that still the plan?