GREYHOUNDS are among the most gentle dogs you can find. They are friendly, welcoming and affectionate. My dog Bert is no exception. At 12 years old, he is showing his age, but he is a wonderful family dog.
Bert was a racing dog before he was forced into “retirement” after breaking the wrist on one of his front legs. He was rescued by the Scottish Greyhound Sanctuary before we gave him a new home away from the track.
You can still see the long-term impacts of him being forced to race. Even years later, he still has a lot of anxiety and feelings of abandonment from kennelling and from having been kept in a cramped environment.
He can still get spooked by loud noises and needs to sleep with the light on. He loves to run but that can bring problems with his old injury back.
Yet, Bert is one of the luckier ones as he got out alive and is now in a loving home. Far too many racing dogs will never get that chance.
The data from 2023 shows that more than 109 greyhounds died on tracksides in the UK that year, with a further 4200 being injured.
Some owners will insist that the racing isn’t a problem and that they love and look after their dogs and treat them well. I’m sure that they are sincere and some of them do.
Yet, the simple truth is that there is no humane way to make a dog run around an oval track at up to 40mph crashing into other dogs, breaking limbs.
It is inherently dangerous, and it always will be. Every time that dogs are being made to race, they all face that risk of injury and death and it’s perfectly legal to expose them to it.
Industry bodies will suggest that regulations are enough, but you can put vets at the trackside and you can put conditions in place over kennelling, and none of that will remove the inherent risk.
Back in its heyday, there were dozens of tracks in Scotland, but it has been in terminal decline. Since the Covid lockdown, there has only been one active track – the Thornton Stadium in Fife.
It is an unregulated track, which means that the owners do not have to fulfil the same minimal obligations as others in terms of safety and vets on site, making it even more dangerous.
With Wales and New Zealand having announced steps to ban the sport in the past few months, Scotland is becoming increasingly isolated in allowing it to continue.
Once it has been stopped in Wales, there will only be eight countries in the world where it is permitted. Does Scotland really want to be part of such a list?
I’ve been working to put a stop to it. With the support of leading animal welfare groups, including the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Dogs Trust and OneKind, I have introduced a bill that would end racing for good.
We launched the process last year in Parliament at a packed-out event with charities, dog owners and even some former racing dogs in attendance.
After the event, we published a consultation which received thousands of responses, and the final bill proposal received the support of MSPs from across the chamber.
It was a strong show of support which allowed us to progress to the next stage. In the months ahead, our Parliament will debate my bill for the first time. I’ve had a lot of positive meetings with MSPs from all parties and I’m hopeful that we will be able to secure the support of the Scottish Government, which would ensure that we get it over the line.
The way that our society treats animals is an important measure of our values and our humanity.
Scotland has made some important steps to ban some of the cruel practices and bloodsports that were once considered acceptable.
So why have greyhounds been left behind? How much longer will we look the other way while dogs are being made to suffer?
The issue is obviously very personal for me. I know that I can’t undo any of Bert’s experiences or the pain and trauma that he experienced, but we have the chance to ensure that no other greyhounds have to go through what he did.
I hope that our Parliament seizes the opportunity and that we can ensure that Scotland joins the many countries around the world that have finally put a stop to it.
