‘End this horrendous cruelty now' Senedd calls for greyhound racing ban
Carolyn Thomas told the Senedd the future of greyhound racing has been high on the agenda since a 2022 petition calling for a ban was signed by more than 35,000 people.
Ms Thomas said the Hope Rescue charity founded by Vanessa Waddon, who submitted the petition, has first-hand experience of horrendous cruelty at the Valley Greyhound Stadium.
She warned that dogs have lost their lives and regularly suffered life-changing injuries at the greyhound racing track in Ystrad Mynach.
Ms Thomas said: 'Hope Rescue started when Vanessa found Last Hope back in 2004, a greyhound from the Valley track found shot with a captive bolt gun, with its ears hacked off."
Ms Thomas, chairing the Senedd cross-party group on animal welfare and the petitions committee, thanked the 'Cut the Chase' coalition of campaigning charities.
She pointed out that two-thirds of respondents to a Welsh Government consultation were in favour of a phased or imminent ban on greyhound racing.
Leading a debate on February 12, Ms Thomas told the Senedd that 389 dogs involved in racing on British tracks died in 2023, a 44 per cent increase on the previous year.
The Labour politician stressed: 'Greyhound racing is a cruel, unsustainable, out-of-date industry which we must resign to the past.'
She pointed to plans for a ban in New Zealand, where the industry is worth £73m a year and employs 1,000 people, due to injuries and the deaths of dogs.
Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds, whose first rescue greyhound called Arthur died in 2023, said: "He was only with us for three years because of the injuries and trauma he'd experienced.
'I hope we get this ban because in my head it'll be Arthur's law.'
The Conservatives' Altaf Hussain said: 'I wholeheartedly agree that we need to end the cruelty that is greyhound racing and we need to end it today.'
Huw Irranca-Davies, the deputy first minister responsible for animal welfare policy, told Senedd members that the next steps will be shared in the spring as part of the development of a wider national model for the regulation of animal welfare.
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