Greyhound Racing ‘Beyond Reform’ in Scotland, Campaigners Call for Ban

With only a few tracks remaining, greyhound racing has been canceled out by many, including more than 40 states in US which made the "sport" illegal.

Now, campaigners in Scotland wanted to see greyhound racing banned as well, as the activity has become "beyond reform", according to BBC News. Apparently, the Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) have been told some dogs are being drugged with illegal substances such as cocaine prior to a race.

Campaigners have asked Holyrood's rural affairs committee to call for a complete ban on the sport when it was found that 13 dogs tested positive for doping at Scotland's only regulated race track between 2018 and 2019.

On top of this, the race itself is 'outdated and cruel' and should have no place in modern Scotland, BBC reported. Many racing dogs suffer injuries, even death, and denied of an opportunity to just sit on a couch.

The Dog's Welfare as "Paramount"

With the evolving society, dog racing has become out of sync with today's values toward animals, and only served as a form of gambling or entertainment, according to Humane Society. These animals which have endured lives of confinement were subject to injuries and deaths in the UK.

According to Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB), an estimated 18,345 dog injuries and more than 3,000 deaths were recorded between 2017 and 2020 during dog racing. This calls for regarding their welfare as "paramount".

However, the campaign group Scotland Against Greyhound Exploitation (Sage) estimates the real death toll is significantly higher. In Scotland, only the race track in Shawfield Stadium in Rutherglen near Glasgow has been regulated, while an unregulated track is at Thornton in Kirkcaldy, Fife. Around the same timeframe (between 2017 and 2020), Shawfield recorded 197 dog injuries and 15 deaths. Meanwhile, casualty rates in Thornton are generally not recorded.

"The lack of regulation [at Thornton] means there is no vet present at any of the races and that would mean there's no administration of first aid or pain relief to dogs that are injured," Gill Docherty said on behalf of Sage. "There is no vet present to euthanize a dog should it suffer a catastrophic injury such as a broken spine or neck."

Positive for Doping

Docherty added that while drug testing does occur at Shawfield, only under 2% of races were tested. In that 2%, 13 dogs tested positive for doping in the period from 2018 to 2019 - with Class A drug cocaine found in five of the dogs.

Regardless if the race track is regulated or unregulated, she explains that there's always fundamentally inherent risks of greyhound racing itself. Doping is usually not revealed by the GBGB for several months and goes unreported to police and the Scottish SPCA.

"They cannot be mitigated against with welfare measures or cleverly named initiatives," she said. In addition, Scottish Greens MSP, Mark Ruskell, backed the petition and said that the industry is really "beyond reform."

The Scottish SPCA recently came out in favor of a ban on greyhound racing and wrote a letter to relevant stakeholders, including the Animal Welfare Commission, and to the Scottish government for "zero-tolerance" approach to mistreatment of dogs.