Found dead greyhound

Hi guys,
I wasn't sure if I should be posting this in the Found-section, frankly it felt too cruel. I wanted to share this anyway, it's too distressing.

This morning when out jogging, I came across a dead greyhound by the road. First I thought it must have been hit by a car, but it was pretty obvious pretty quickly it had been dumped. It was too deep in the ditch, and there were no obvious signs of injury, nothing what you would expect from a collision with a car. The most disturbing thing though was the ears - they'd been cut clean off.

I've been checking the internet for lost dogs, but so far I've found nothing even remotely resembling this dog. I did come across a news clip about a (live) greyhound that was found with its ears cut off - apparently they are all earmarked (tattoo?) and to cut the ears off of a greyhound is to remove all traces of identity/owner.

The road where I go jogging is a quiet backroad, and people tend to dump their rubbish there all the time. I wish I wouldn't have seen this though. It was too much.

The dog was a dark grey bitch, with some white on the chest and front paws. No collar, obviously. No photos either, didn't feel like snapping any. To Moderators, feel free to move this to the Found section if you feel that would be more appropriate.

Susanna

Couldn't get to the dog warden anymore, they don't take calls after 11.30am, but I'll pop into the Gardai later on today. I don't know what they would make of it, but to me it amounts to animal cruelty. It was hard to say how the dog got killed, but I only hope it was dead when they cut the ears..  

Oh yes, this was between Celbridge and Maynooth, Co. Kildare.

What a dreadful thing to do and come across.   You are right the ears are removed so that the dog cant be traced by its tatoos.  Its unlikely to be microchiped .  I think that if you can contact the greyhound board they may be able to offer a DNA trace on the dog - of course that means you have to get samples  which wouldnt  be a pleasant task.

That is really horrendous. I feel so sorry for those poor poor dogs. I hope those involved have nothing but bad luck. The dogs are nothing but walking wallets to them and they dont give a damn. And the legislation here is so laughable that they can continue to do it.

The poor baby  At least she is in a much better place now...

 I Have never gone to a night at "The Dogs" and never will. EVER. for precicely this reason.

I never knew this sort of thing happened. What if they were microchipped, would they be chopping a chunk off its neck? Unbelievable.

This story fell flat, as I went to check the roadside before calling the Gardai the dog was gone. Either somebody got to the Council before me and they cleared it off, or it was one of the neighbours. Not good for the neighbourhood, I suppose    I started to think it was all a bad dream or my disturbed imagination. If only. Now I'm sorry I didn't go back with the camera straight away - talk about bad publicity for the industry

I've always thought that once I have more space I'll gather round a few greys since I love these dogs. I work with thoroughbred horses (another industry that has lot to answer for), so it must be something to do with their athletism. They are amazing dogs all the same. Now I'm thinking how many could I save.

Ridiculous really, to save half a dozen won't make much difference in an industry that treats tens of thousands like they were rubbish.


Edited by Susanna - 12 December 2009 at 2:28pm

Unfortunately these animals are though  of in terms of monetary value dogs have no special standing under the law anymore than livestock and even if who ever dumped this poor dog was caught under the law all thay could be prosecuted for is littering

i know its no use to the case in hand but at least we now have a contact should anyone ever come across another situation like this!!!

I was speaking with a Grey owner a bit after the OP posted....this particular guy is a very conscientious and responsible Grey owner- he races his dogs but he takes damn good care of them. In his opinion, the owners who dump their Greys when they're of no more use, are a very small fraction of the Grey owning community in Ireland, and that Bord na Gcon hugely disapproves of disposal like that and would make it their mission to hunt down the owner and prosecute him.

Of course, I would have loved to believe that was completely true, and maybe it is, (the reply from Barry Coleman does reflect that) but the cynic in me wondered why we're not hearing about the countless prosecutions, sentencing and fines all over the news, and why ear hacking still happens.
I realise it's less common than it was a few years ago, but it's still a common occurence.

Leaving out the hacking of ears, you only have to look at how many Greys are in care in both the
Clare and Limerick Animal Welfare groups. Greys that were found starving and emaciated, scabby, mangey, scarred, and terrified. Passive cruelty is as much a disgusting act of cruelty as hacking off ears.....where are the consequences for the owners?
What exactly is Bord na Gcon doing about it???

I have added Barry Coleman's details to the Service/Welfare database on the main ID site.

I should have said that I had previously e-mailed Barry for some stuff re welfare to put in a staff magazine.  When I started asking him about outcomes of prosecutions etc and highlighting some recent cases of cruelty he went quiet and ignored my last e-mail.  Im guessing it was getting too messy and he couldnt defend the actions of the 'owners.'