Another favourite defence that they seem to be using a lot now is to challenge the validity of our evidence by saying it is not like that now, that must have happened a long time ago. An example of this occurred recently in connection with a video on YouTube. The video shows two Greyhounds being taken into a shed to be shot, and then being wheeled out dead in a wheelbarrow. It also shows a Greyhound with his ears cut off and left for dead on a hillside. Someone commented on the video asking where we get our stories from and insisting that nothing like that happens now and the pictures must be years old. In actual fact the dogs who were shot and taken in a wheelbarrow to be buried were Clash Nitro and Rent A Flyer, killed by David Smith of Seaham, Co. Durham in 2006, and reported in the Times newspaper, not 20 years ago as the misinformed defender of this barbarism claimed. The dog with his ears cut off was Rusty, a lovely black Greyhound left for dead on a welsh hillside by Andrew Gough in 2005. Rusty was still alive and whimpering when he was discovered the next day by a man walking his dog. He was so badly mutilated that he had to be euthanased by a vet at the scene. Again this wasn’t 20 years ago but less than 3 years ago.
I hope that this has given you some ideas about what be on your guard about when writing to the media or other bodies. Just try to imagine what the racing industry is going to say to refute your article. Of course they can’t really refute the truth, and you should only tell the truth, there is enough cruelty in this vile game without making anything up, but they will try to do so, and if they are convincing enough, people might listen to them instead of you. We are succeeding now better than we have ever done in the past so let us always be alert and ready to anticipate what the Greyhound killers are going to come back with. Let’s make 2008 the year that competitive Greyhound racing ended.