Anyone who knows me will know that I am a passionate supporter of Greyhound as Pets. This is a charitable organisation that receives, assesses (for suitability with cats and kids), desexes, vaccinates, microchips and rehomes ex racing and unwanted greyhounds. The charity’s prime source of cash funding is from Greyhound Racing New Zealand, who levies trainers and contributes a portion of this cash to the Greyhound Rehoming Programme.
Greyhound Racing undertakes this support as it was is responsible for the creation of the charitable trust in order to find a home for these wonderful animals once their racing careers have finished. Prior to Greyhound as Pets being established, the majority of unwanted dogs were euthanised (not an uncommon occurrence in the horse racing industry). Greyhound as Pets provides an alternative to trainers and breeders who have an ethical issue with the euthanasia route.
On the 3 June a race meet was held at Manukau, where the proceeds from the races being sold to sponsoring organisations were to be paid directly to Greyhounds as Pets. There was also talk of this becoming a regular event which would contribute over $2,000 a year to the greyhound adoption programme.
An individual has decided to attack this event, by providing a template letter/email to lambast and abuse those companies and businesses that assisted in sponsoring the event. This has resulted in the main organiser and the businesses that supported the event pulling out from all future events, as they have been bombarded with correspondence from small minded individuals who don’t understand what Greyhound as Pets is trying to achieve.
The actions of this individual, his cohorts and the position that they are taking is tantamount to abusing the SPCA for encouraging people to dispose of their animals.
This individual’s argument that greyhounds are injured and killed in racing is sufficient reason to ban all greyhound racing and their associated activities. While injuries and fatalities do occur, they are in the extreme minority. Greyhounds love to race (being an owner of two and foster of one, I should know!), and injuries in any high speed sport are a possibility (just look at motor sport, winter olympics, flying, etc). This individual’s view just simply isn’t sustainable. And sadly, the comments and postings of this individual on the public forum have resulted in the loss of many thousands of dollars, and it heartening of the hundreds of people who contribute actively to the adoption programme.
That is the end of my bleat about the greyhound issue. I wanted to highlight the power of e-media and its ability to convey good and bad things targeted and unexpected markets. It pays to think clearly before putting anything out there in the public forum! Have a great week and I look forward to catching up with you later.
Lincoln
Lincoln Sharp - Thinking Forward 