there's a farmer near us, I cannot name names for obvious reasons, who
regularly tries to get his beasts killed.........last night he had a sign
up
saying Slow Cows Crossing.....sorta goading drivers into speeding up.
"Old Codger" <oldcodger@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:s72e24llntffbie9ohbqluo0qcs2mnkm0a@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> From The Sunday Times May 11, 2008
> http://tinyurl.com/4zzfpo
> Greyhound breeder offers slow dogs to be killed for research
>
> Daniel Foggo
>
> The largest breeder of greyhounds in Britain is offering to sell
> healthy young dogs to be killed and dissected for research, an
> investigation has found.
>
> Charles Pickering told an undercover re****ter that his breeding
> programme continually throws up dozens of "fit and healthy" dogs that
> are "just a bit too slow for the tracks" and therefore a financial
> burden to him.
>
> Pickering, who offered to sell them for £30 each, said he was helping
> to supply dogs to the animal teaching hospital at Liverpool
> University.
>
> He provides yearling greyhounds to Richard Fielding, a greyhound
> trainer, who gives his older dogs for free to university veterinary
> staff, who put them to sleep and remove organs for teaching and
> research.
>
> Pickering said he wanted to keep his dealings "nice and confidential"
> because it was "extremely sensitive". The disclosure throws fresh
> light on the way in which the greyhound racing industry treats both
> retired dogs and those that fail to make the grade.
>
> The Sunday Times disclosed in March that the Royal Veterinary College
> (RVC) was buying canine body parts from John O'Connor, a vet whose
> clinic was willing to euthanase healthy greyhounds, no questions
> asked.
>
> An undercover re****ter approached Pickering after hearing he was
> quietly sending young dogs to be put down at Liverpool University.
>
> Pickering, a former pig farmer, breeds about 200 racing dogs a year at
> his Zigzag Kennels. Its website says: "We make the welfare of all our
> stock our highest priority."
>
> The re****ter told Pickering that he was from another university and
> was interested in procuring surplus dogs for research. Pickering, 56,
> who is based at Dunholme in Lincoln****re, said: "We look to sell them
> [for racing] for a minimum of £200-£300 at 12 weeks [old].
>
> "When they get to a year old we are hoping that we can get between
> £800 and £20,000 for the very fastest. But, of course, along the way
> we get some that aren't quite suitable. If it's in the interest of
> someone for scientific purposes or study purposes, well that's a good
> thing. It's better than just being put down and disappearing."
>
> Asked which of his dogs were not "suitable" for racing, he said:
> "We've got ones that simply won't chase, they are absolutely healthy,
> fit as you could want, but just choose not to chase the artificial
> hare or are just a little bit too slow for the tracks. Or the ones
> that turn and fight."
>
> Pickering said he had been supplying up to 30 dogs a year to Liverpool
> University but "we could do more if required". He later said that the
> dogs sent to Liverpool had either "finished racing or they are the
> ones that don't make the grade" and were taken there by Fielding, who
> is accredited by the National Greyhound Racing Club, the s****t's
> governing body.
>
> Pickering said that he could supply as many dogs as required at £30
> each and could even breed them specifically to be killed. "When we are
> breeding, the ones that only reach the minimum standard for what we
> want, if we get too many of those it becomes a complication because we
> have to look for pet homes and all that sort of thing," he said.
>
> "I do give as many away for pets as we can, but these young ones, they
> are not used to the house environment. If they can have a use and help
> someone somewhere, and it gets me a tiny bit of money back, that's all
> the better for me."
>
> Fielding, who is based in Lanca****re told the re****ter he had four
> "very healthy" dogs which he was happy to have taken away and killed
> immediately.
>
> "I got shot of 10 old ones last year. Liverpool is a godsend in that
> respect because they are used for a good purpose." He did not charge
> the university for them.
>
> When contacted by the Sunday Times he denied taking any of Pickering's
> dogs to the university and insisted the only greyhounds he took there
> were old and not rehomeable.
>
> Pickering later denied ever having sent dogs for research.
>
> Dr Eithne Comerford, who works at the university's hospital and had
> arranged to take greyhounds from Fielding, told the undercover
> re****ter that it was "not something we're particularly mad about . . .
> we're all vets". She stressed that the dogs were "euthanased properly"
> and used for "multiple projects". She said they were not paid for and
> the RVC scandal had caused "huge havoc".
>
> A spokeswoman for Liverpool University defended its activities. "Our
> approach to veterinary research is of the highest ethical standard. We
> only carry out research on tissues of dogs and cats that have died or
> been euthanased and with the full consent of the animal's owner."
>
>
>
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