Woodgreen withdraws from the Greyhound Forum
Woodgreen Pets Charity has stepped down from the Greyhound Forum with immediate effect, due to concerns that the industry is not doing enough to improve the lives of racing greyhounds.
Woodgreen has always wanted to see a world without greyhound racing, but recognized that there was insufficient public or regulatory appetite for making that a reality. Whilst greyhound racing remained a popular and legal sport, the charity could better use its influence and knowledge within the Greyhound Forum to improve industry practices and work towards higher standards of welfare for all greyhounds.
The coalition of animal welfare charities and organisations within the industry was originally created more than a decade ago to address concerns about welfare within the sport, and the number of greyhounds coming into rehoming centres. Woodgreen has played a key role in a number of positive changes as part of the Greyhound Forum, including:
- Ensuring that greyhounds have access to drinking water in track kennels
- Securing a ban on anti-bark collars, which are a cruel and ineffective training tool
- Introducing the publication of injury and retirement statistics, to improve transparency
More recently, Woodgreen was given the opportunity to contribute towards the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB)’s Greyhound Commitment. This policy, whilst taking on board some crucial recommendations like regulating racing greyhounds in hot weather, is unfortunately still too lenient and puts dogs at significant risk. Regrettably, the charity has failed to see enough change from the industry and has now withdrawn from the Greyhound Forum.
Clive Byles, Woodgreen’s chief executive officer, said: “We have tried to work collaboratively with the greyhound racing industry to improve welfare conditions for dogs. Progress has been too slow and we continue to see too many greyhounds injured – often with fatal results. Despite our best efforts, we do not believe the Greyhound Forum is able to sufficiently address these issues and we believe we must call time on greyhound racing altogether. We will continue to work with others towards this goal as well as responding directly to support the welfare needs of dogs in the sport today.”
The time to end greyhound racing is now long overdue, and Woodgreen joins others in the sector to call for an end to the outdated and unnecessary sport. Although the charity is no longer a part of the Greyhound Forum, Woodgreen will help wherever possible to improve welfare standards and practices, supporting the dogs that are still sadly trapped within racing.