On Sun, 11 May 2008 16:09:55 +0100, "tpow" <wd40@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
>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.
Gourd out of here!
>
>"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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