22 October 2012
Being a racing man, and having an interest in greyhound racing, I decided to watch TV3s attempt at attacking the sport in last night's 60 Minutes programme.
Unfortunately, NZ Greyhound Racing was not served by having a quiet old chap as its spokesman, when all that was needed was someone able to brush aside the idiotic criticism of a very weak journalist. In his defence, Jim Leach was visibly shaken by the fact that the one race recorded with the journo was one where a greyhound broke its leg and was put down.
The move for the mockumentary was that a clown by the name of Aaron Cross believes that greyhound racing is cruel and should be banned.
I wonder if Cross protests against dogs being grown for food in Asia? Or whether he eats meat himself - after all, dogs, cats, cows and horses are all mammals, if so, he can explain to me why one mammal is worth more than another and deserves special rules.
From horse racing, to laboratory rats, to beef animals and sheep, we use and consume and kill billions of animals annually.
So what if some dogs end up dead, because they were too slow/old? How is that different from the wholesale slaughter of lambs for roasts? Are we to ban duck-shooting, fishing and hunting?
Regardless of his own tastes, Cross will definitely be feeding his dogs meat. There is a huge irony in that, because it is an absolute certainty some of the meat his dogs eat will contain slow racehorses!
People like Aaron Cross are just meatheads. He lives for, and has now had, his 15 minutes of fame. I feel he would be much better served if he tried to do something about the tens of thousands of cats put down each year by animal shelters and SPCAs. And that's tens of thousands every year, in NZ alone. Why no disgust at that?
This clown, and the story-starved buffoons at TV3, would have the industry banned, costing the livelihoods of over a thousand people.
Stuff them! They're only people.
I'm bitterly disappointed that Jim Leach didn't go on the attack and point these obvious facts out, because they are the things that matter. Greyhound racing is as safe as it can be, with owners, trainers and club staff all being concerned with welfare of the dogs.
For the past month, Southland's greyhound track has been closed due to being unsafe. It will not be used again for racing until it's safe. People actually look after their dogs, and if it's a short life, it is pretty much a short and happy one. Many dogs also go through the Greyhounds as Pets organisation run by the industry and are placed as lifelong pets.
Another angle to ponder, if you aren't already convinced that TV3 have picked on a soft target and then done a hatchet job is this:
To be happy, a greyhound needs to run. There is actually a higher chance of a greyhound getting injured running around a park than a track. Parks are uneven, have hidden obstacles and can trip anyone or anything. Going at the speed greyhounds have, they can be severely injured at any time they're exercising.
I bet Aaron Cross would grizzle just as much if everyone stopped exercising their dogs and they all got fat - some people are just pricks.
Copyright © Alan Charman