Success: Abusive Greyhound Track is Closed

Target: David Neale, Animal Welfare Director of the Animals Asia Foundation

Goal: Support the closure of a greyhound track with a long history of alleged abuse and advocate for the security of remaining greyhounds.

By the age of one, their bodies brim with bruises, sores, and broken limbs. By the age of two, they will have spent most of their lives in a cage. By the age of three, many of them will be dead. This tragic trajectory represents the lives of  greyhounds: animals bred and exploited for profit. Animal welfare advocates, such as those speaking out in this ForceChange petition have often highlighted the abuses that routinely take place at greyhound racetracks. Thanks to the efforts of so many dedicated voices, Asia’s lone legal greyhound operation will soon be no more.

Macau, China’s Yat Yuen Canidrome has a long and tumultuous history, with at least one closure already in its past. Allegations of mistreatment of its imported greyhound racers have remained consistent, with stories of wounded animals stacked in small, cramped cages rampant. The only respite a greyhound receives from these inhumane conditions rests in the few moments during each day when the animal races for the entertainment of loud, abrasive crowds. After these animals no longer perform to race standards—due to injury, age, or any other factor—they often face euthanasia. Anywhere from 30 to 50 greyhounds met this fate at the Canidrome every month of every year since the track’s opening decades ago.

While the closure of a major endorser of these horrendous practices is cause for celebration, the remaining survivors still need help. Advocates fear that the 500-plus animals currently imprisoned at the track will be lost to euthanasia or to unscrupulous underground enterprises when the Canidrome officially closes its doors in July.

Sign this petition to praise the elimination of a safe haven for animal cruelty and to encourage adoption efforts for this organization’s final victims.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Mr. Neale,

“The dogs have become a commodity. They spend most of their time confined, apart from a little bit of exercise…it is a miserable life.” Due in large part to the passionate efforts of organizations like your own, untold numbers of greyhounds will be spared from this existence of misery. The closure of the Yat Yuen Canidrome racetrack in Macau is a victory for all individuals who value animal welfare. More importantly, it is a silent victory for every animal from all parts of the world who will no longer be a victim of cruel abuse, neglect, and execution.

Now is not the time to rest on victories, however, because the fight to ensure that none of the current Canidrome greyhounds become sacrificial lambs still looms. This cruel organization cannot and should not claim any more victims as its final act of cruelty. Please stand strong and united in securing for these animals something they have never truly known: comfort, love, safety…not an existence, but a life well-lived.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Renee Tellez