Anti-racing crowd are the most dangerous predators of all
THE world's greatest predator has invented the combustible engine, the computer, flown to the moon, and even produced all of the world's great literature.
But, as we know or we ought to know, the natural instinct to inflict pain and predate on the weak is hard wired into the human species.
This fundamental human trait has been used by society leaders throughout human history from Caesar right through to Trump who both employed fear and propaganda to tap into this basic human instinct for their own selfish purposes.
It is important that all human and society relationships are examined in this context. The need for human beings to pigeon hole groups within society is intimately connected to this underlying competitive drive to ostracise the weak and bolster their own social position.
Enlightened individuals who buck this trend and claim to live and let live have lived among us and indeed many have been genuine in their attempts to live an intelligent and a non-predatory existence. Many more, however, release their predatory instincts disguised as something fulsome and good. The churches have been expert at doing this for centuries and all religions have an evangelical ideology that promotes their superior “truth” over the darkness of infidels.
The racing industries in general and greyhound racing in particular have been subject to criticism and propaganda in recent decades. The notion of profiting from the lives of animals is regarded by a small minority of our society as abhorrent and not socially acceptable. This vocal minority have campaigned hard against all forms of animal exploitation and the hardliners among them regard traditional pet ownership as pet slavery and are opposed to any use of animals for the production of food.
In our industry through the wrongdoing of a small number of people and a cleverly edited story narrative we have gifted them a propaganda coup. The Four Corners program has delivered the moral high ground to this evangelical group who now seem to have the ear of politicians and administrators who find it convenient to be converts to their cause. In reality, I believe these fanatic minorities who live at the extremes of society are simply indulging their predatory instincts by attacking the weak.
As someone who grew up in a sectarian divided society that was Northern Ireland, I appreciate the egalitarian and multicultural society of Australia. It is a unique place in the world largely untainted by entrenched stratifications of society that have taken millennia to develop in other populated countries. Sectarian divisions are the normal prerequisite for sectarian prosecution. I respect the right of people to hold a different view to mine and I enjoy the cultural melding of our mainstream society. However I object to a small group of idealists moralising and intimidating a law abiding group within society who simply do not share their beliefs.
The sport of greyhound racing is a salubrious sport for both the owners and their dogs. The greyhounds enjoy immensely their lifestyle while they are racing and unlike many other pets they achieve high standards of welfare which not only includes food and shelter and freedom from fear but also the ability to pursue their natural instincts which is to chase albeit after a fluffy toy. It also allows the human species to enjoy that other great natural instinct, the one for risk taking, giving people all over the country the chance to wager on the qualities of another imperfect animal rather than battling with the perfect success of an inanimate poker machine.
I find it curious that a society that consumes tens of millions of chickens, hundreds of thousands of sheep, pigs and cattle every year can be aroused into such a hypocritical frenzy by a group of fanatics and a sympathetic media over the so called wastage of animals within the racing industry.
A greyhound or a horse has no concept of retirement planning. Their forward projections go little further than their next dinner. Animal welfare is exclusively related to the care of animals when they are alive. The issue of whether we euthanise animals is a social not welfare question. It is certainly not evidence of cruelty as has been suggested by the Premier of New South Wales.
The level of animal consumption through all our social stratifications strongly suggests that the view of a small number of unrepresentative fanatics is totally unrepresentative of the mainstream of Australian society. I believe the Australian public is mature enough to realise that this industry has over a couple of decades been striving to increase the numbers of greyhounds that progress to a retirement at the end of a racing career.
All the racing industries need to be open and honest with them to explain that there are not enough retirement homes to go around and some animals bred specifically for the race track are not suited to a more relaxed lifestyle. I am strongly opposed to adopting the UK approach which effectively outlaws euthanasia of retired greyhounds resulting in many living out their days in retirement “prisons”.
hear,hear. spoken like an authorative figure,in which he is.and his profession is one I find difficult to understand where some,i said some,are anti and some like this chap,are pro. I like the sentence….. QUOTE….The sport of greyhound racing is a salubrious sport for both the owners and their dogs. The greyhounds enjoy immensely their lifestyle while they are racing and unlike many other pets they achieve high standards of welfare which not only includes food and shelter and freedom from fear but also the ability to pursue their natural instincts which is to chase albeit after a fluffy toy. It… Read more »
Dr Des Fegan, doing his best to prove he’s a dickhead and succeeding.
This is an interesting article and well written and much of it I am in agreement with. However before I was ready to condemn retirement homes for greyhounds as ” prisons” I would prefer much more information on how they are run and funded and what type of life dogs have in these establishments. I have spoken to a number of greyhound people who have rearing and boarding facilities and they seemed open to the idea of taking retirement dogs. Obviously it is not a solution for every dog, but one that could be assessed in an objective manner. Given… Read more »
Well said facts are allways right.
dogem53 “dog racing is part of our country,and either accept it or go” – considering you can’t even write in non broken English, I would suggest that at least I having being born and raised here have more rights than you when it comes to say what is part of our country than a johnny come lately, and I say ban it.
sorry its time for the industry to die, like most of the hounds do…
dogem53 better health? wow they kill tens of thousands, exsanguinate and blood bait, youre obviously ill informed, stupid or an industry insdier, either way you suck :)
veganboypussy dogem53 Similarly veganboypussy suggesting others are ill informed or stupid and you suck is not rational debate it’s just well pathetic. Are you into cats?
DaveSampson75 dogem53 Dave you just don’t get it do you, insulting people and suggesting they are stupid is not debate it is just venting your spleen and makes people wonder just what motivates you. As I said- if you want a fair hearing and you want people to listen keep to the facts, use logic and again check out Hugh does it.
SharonIrvine Sharon these are opinions, a fact is proven with evidence and “always” only has one l.
DaveSampson75 dogem53 have not improved much in your statements dave. must be able to do better than comment surely.
and, as usual,a vegan and non grey lover,DOES NOT QUOTE 100% ACCURACY……sort of like AA and BAIRD &co.
finish the sentence I wrote,correctly Davey boy.
……go AND EAT CELERY AND READ THE MANTRA……….but hey, what can one expect from a fellow aussie.
veganboypussy dogem53 hey dave, you talk about my writings………..look at this,the pussy is flustered and misspells dah everding.
Just as a matter of interest, what are these ‘Antis’ as I call them, doing about the 60,000 odd working dogs euthanised Nationwide each year?
DaveSampson75 dogem53 dave, funny you say you are an aussie.
of all the sentences and topics I complained about,and there were heaps,you only selected dogs and racing.
now that is definitely un-Australian and shows your eyes are easily directed to one agenda.
not one whimper about how governments have ruined this country. not one sob. dave,I begin to wonder where your mind is lately.
but hey, I am a big boy, I know the attitudes of the negs,and I can wear that. damn shame that education for some on life matters stops when they get brainwashed.
Deborah555 DaveSampson75 dogem53 deb, spot on.
HUGH is a guy I would love to chat with,regardless of his passion. he was thorough and articulate and could really put a sentence together. I admired him for his outlook and how he was prepared to debate honestly.
some others, well we shall see.
“I find it curious that a society that consumes tens of millions of chickens, hundreds of thousands of sheep, pigs and cattle every year can be aroused into such a hypocritical frenzy by a group of fanatics and a sympathetic media over the so called wastage of animals within the racing industry.”
really? You can’t figure that out?
its because the mainstream regard eating as essential and gambling as non-essential.
If you want to beat the vegan drum then go ahead, I won’t disagree, but the mainstream will and thats why racing being banned is a necessary reality.
dogem53 Deborah555 DaveSampson75 yes I enjoyed debating with him as well he was obviously motivated by a genuine love of animals, however when people get on this site insulting others, suggesting they are stupid, and argue not the facts but from emotions such as anger I just cannot believe they are motivated by a concern for animals.
veganboypussy dogem53 tool
Yes Dr Des, vegans are apex predators, just above vegetarians on the predatory scale. I’d start running now if I were you.
I think your assertion that opposition to the greyhound industry, and in particular the issue of wastage, is the exclusive domain of a small “extreme” minority is very questionable. If any of the poles that numerous news websites have run, or the comments section of numerous articles on news sites are anything to go by, it would seem that quite a large percentage of people are opposed to greyhound racing. In fact I would say that I see more sentiment expressed against the industry than for the industry. This is not a very scientific measure, but I think a cursory… Read more »
Deborah555 dogem53 DaveSampson75 I know that I often lose my patience and get somewhat insulting in debates and I apologise for that. All I can say in my defence is that I am much more polite than I used to be, you’ll both have to take my word for it that I have made progress in this regard. It takes time to change one’s habits and I started life as an arrogant little shit :) It’s unfortunate that written text via the internet is not a very effective method for a robust debate, I often wish we could all just sit around… Read more »
Hugh_ again a brilliant insight to a situation HUGH. but…………. 4. Awareness. I know that Debora if she reads this will disagree with me, but awareness plays a big part too. The failings of the greyhound industry have been splashed all over the media to such an extent now that people are highly aware of the issues in the industry. The same can’t be said about animal agriculture. There’s a certain level of awareness of particular issues in agriculture, caged hens being the most obvious, but for the most part people are fairly ignorant of how animal agriculture takes place… Read more »
BJoe Faulty logic – what you’re saying is akin to saying that we shouldn’t prosecute murderers when there’s still plenty of rapists around.
Hugh_ As if I would miss what you write Hugh( and let you get away with it without a reply) I agree with almost all that you have said and of course I have already stated my views about awareness. I think most people are aware that the meat they eat has resulted in the suffering of an animal but they still eat meat. Either out of guilt or pure hypocrisy they attack others because sadly we are a very flawed species. Greyhound trainers, being a minority, many of whom are not powerful or wealthy people, are easy targets. I can… Read more »
MarionPurnell BJoe I have read one of your other posts and even though I did not agree with it I thought it was clever and witty and didn’t go too far. This response however, where you criticise BJoe for faulty logic using some pretty faulty and of course emotionally charged logic of your own is not that impressive. Lift your game. Logically your argument should have been why are we prosecuting rapists when murders are around. Which of course has nothing to do with racing. What BJoe is saying is that there is a great deal of hypocrisy in screaming about… Read more »
AaronC_NZ Aaron you cant teach stupid. They dont understand the difference and never will. Noone has ever accused a greyhound trainer as having too much intelligence.
BJoe i hope when you go to a doctor with the flu he refuses to see you on the grounds we havent cured cancer yet.
The current group of anti racing critics are an interesting lot aren’t they. Tags ending in pussy, woman with whip and suggesting anyone with a different view “sucks” I don’t know how old you all are but if you are over 18 there is a proliferation of adult entertainment sites that cater for those interested this is a racing site.
DaveSampson75 AaronC_NZ Once again Dave your only argument is “these people are stupid”. That is not an argument for banning racing. You have a go at dogem53 for his English literacy skills and denigrate greyhound trainers as lacking intelligence and yet above you have failed to put a hyphen in no-one what you have written sounds like the name of some-one who stars in playschool and you have failed to put an apostrophe in don’t. So what anything you say now has no validity because your grammar is appalling?
DaveSampson75 BJoe —– and here you have failed to use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence and I is always written in uppercase when used as a pronoun.
Deborah555 DaveSampson75 AaronC_NZ Im typing on a phone, I cant be arsed to put in apostrophes, basic grammar and the appropriate words to use in a sentence is basic stuff. Why are you struggling with this concept Deborah?
Deborah555 DaveSampson75 BJoe Yawn.
“The industry we look at is the one we have been bequeathed. It is placed on the shelf of history, it’s the place from where we have to move forward. That legacy is tarnished by all the petty decisions that have eroded its foundations, the trainers who cheated, the stud masters who knowingly falsely advertised, veterinarians who aided and abetted dishonest behaviour and the administrators who have repeatedly made reactive decisions often shadowed by poor professional advice. We stand looking at a sport on the cusp of entering into an environment where history tells us that corruption will increase not… Read more »
DaveSampson75 Deborah555 AaronC_NZ Well then let’s agree that literacy, the level of your intelligence or education does equate with your right to have your say. Everyone has a right to a say no matter how well educated or intelligent.
veganboypussy dogem53 I have already posted my views on the misleading numbers of dogs killed and will not go into that again. I am concerned though where you get the idea that greyhounds are drained of blood before being killed. No greyhound trainer does this. What then everyone sits around in a circle with candles and paints blood crosses on their foreheads and then sacrifices virgins? I think you might be confusing the practice where some vets in regional Australia ring greyhound people and ask them to bring a mature retired racing dog into the surgery to be a donor, often… Read more »
DaveSampson75 Deborah555 BJoe I have given you a hard time about your grammar etc merely to point out that attacking other people’s views by suggesting they are dumb and do not have good English skills (which you have done ) is not sporting and has no relevance to their right to express an opinion. Nor does it relate to the quality of their opinion.
I just love the way Dave, Pussy boy and whip girl and anyone who thinks different from me sucks boy go around constantly “liking” each others comments. Are you on this site because you care about animals or feeding your ego and taking care of those unmet needs for attention and to feel powerful. I am actually not sure if you are throwing a whip or a lasso -these seem like unusual symbols for a vegan. You do know what a whip or lasso are used for do you? I notice whip girl is quite the prolific poster on lots… Read more »
something you need to know is that Trump is not as frightening as the liar, Hillary Clinton, who abandoned men to die. In addition, Trump would not ban Greyhound racing the way Mike Baird did for a couple of reasons, not the least of which is that he supports animal related businesses and purebred dogs. Unlike Hillary, he is not looked upon kindly by HSUS, PETA, etc. It really is quite simple… you don’t want anti-racing politicians, stop electing them, fight against their election. You may lose, but at least you will go down fighting! Besides, you never know, you… Read more »
Hugh_ Deborah555 dogem53 DaveSampson75 I am glad you are working on it and I agree with the difficulty of debating on the internet. Although on the internet you “meet” people that you would not come in contact with otherwise.Personally rather than a vegan meal I would like some of those lamb chops all brown and chrispy with gravy.
. I love them and so do my greyhound girls even more than roast chook.
PS you are still arrogant what really cures arrogance is the longer you live.