Animal sport bodies ‘care only for profit’ (From York Press)

Animal sport bodies ‘care only for profit’

9:21am Friday 11th November 2011 in Letters

TO VIEW the cruelty racehorses and greyhounds suffer, visit the websites animalaid.org.uk or greyhoundtrust.org.uk

The truth is, Ken Holmes (Letters, November2), people in animal sports care not for the animal, only the profit. More than 6,000 horses are slaughtered at Potters abattoir in Cheshire every year for human consumption abroad. If we count all the horses taken to the other killing factories, the numbers are horrific; also, 300 racehorses die every year due to racing.

The greyhound racing industry says 11,000 registered greyhounds leave the racing tracks every year and up to 5,000 are not accounted for.

The RSPCA says 20 greyhounds a day go missing, presumed killed. Greyhound Action says 10,000 registered greyhounds are discarded every year. English stud book records 700 greyhound litters in England ever year. That is 34,000 pups and 40,000 in Ireland, most bred for English race tracks.

The League Against Cruel Sports wants to tax the bookmakers a penny in every pound to help greyhounds when they retire. Let us not forget that bookmakers make about £2 billion every year from 37 tracks.

Well done, Ken, on giving your dogs and horses a loving home. Maybe Tulum thinks he is Mr Ed.

Mr D Fillingham, The Crossway, York.