Charity says Defra has failed to take heed of advice
The Dogs Trust has expressed its dismay over Defra's review of current racing greyhound regulations.
Published today, the Post Implementation Review of the 2010 Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations reviews the current regulations to see how effective they have been.
The regulations were introduced to improve the welfare standards of racing greyhounds by establishing a set of minimum welfare standards and to improve the traceability of greyhounds during and after their racing life.
Responding to the review, Paula Boyden, Dogs Trust veterinary director, said the charity is 'deeply concerned' that Defra has failed to take notice of advice from welfare charities.
Having long campaigned for a review of current regulations, Dogs Trust are 'dismayed' that Defra may only consider minimal changes to improve the 2010 regulations. These are not expected to come into force until 2018 at the earliest, they say.
“We are deeply concerned that not only have Defra failed to take heed of expert advice from welfare charities and the EFRA committee but they have even ignored the results of their own consultation on the initial findings of the Review of the Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations 2010," says Paula Boyden.
"The government are not treating this issue with the severity it deserves – their proposed changes are minimal and lack the urgency needed to improve the industry. We have long campaigned and will continue to campaign tirelessly to ensure that these much-needed changes to improve and regulate greyhound welfare are implemented,” she adds.
Earlier this year EFRA published their report into greyhound welfare which recommended an extension to the 2010 regulations to cover trainers' kennels. Yet this has not been included as a recommendation in the Post Implementation Review.
Furthermore, in June Dogs Trust published findings of an investigation into the conditions of greyhound training kennels in the UK. The investigation provided evidence that existing regulations do not go far enough to address welfare concerns.
Dogs Trust and the EFRA committee also hoped that regulations would be amended to require the publication of essential welfare data relating to injury, euthanasia and rehoming. But Defra say their approach is to rely on a non-regulatory agreement with the Greyhound Board of Great Britain to publish statistics from 2018.
"This will not cover the four independent tracks in England," said Dogs Trust. "Sadly there have been no attempts by Defra to attempt this amend as a result of the latest regulation review."
Image (C) Dogs Trust
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