00:00 22,000 greyhounds are injured over the last four or five years.
00:06 Actually, there's only 18,000 greyhounds take part in it, which means in essence every greyhound
00:09 has some form of injury from racing.
00:11 England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland make up four of the ten countries in the world
00:17 that still allow greyhound racing.
00:19 Blue Cross says the avoidable suffering and loss of even a single dog is a tragic event,
00:24 not to mention the 22,000 injured and more than 2,000 killed between 2018 and 2022
00:31 as a result of participation in the sport.
00:33 Greyhound racing is inherently dangerous.
00:36 You've got dogs racing at up to 40 miles an hour around a tight oval circuit
00:40 and sadly, if they hit each other, they trip, then there's injuries going to happen.
00:45 In fact, the industry's own statistics show that a stunning 244 greyhounds died due to racing last year
00:53 and over 4,000 were injured.
00:55 A recent survey conducted by the charity revealed that an overwhelming majority, 91% of the British public,
01:01 neither engage in nor support greyhound racing.
01:05 And so the charity is calling on the government to phase out greyhound racing over five years,
01:10 allowing the industry to wind down while working with dog welfare organisations
01:14 to ensure the safety of all racing dogs and find them loving retirement homes.
01:19 We've had discussions with the Welsh Parliament about bringing it to an end
01:22 and hopefully they'll collect the evidence and going to make a decision at the end of the year.
01:26 So it may well be banned in Wales to start off with and then we'll see about the rest of the UK.
01:30 But that's why we feel now is a good time to get this petition going
01:34 and actually there's just too many injuries and too many deaths happening out there.
01:38 The charity is calling on the public for their help, either by signing their petition
01:42 to have the ban debated in Parliament or by thinking of opening their home to an ex-racer themselves.
01:48 Greyhounds make fantastic family pets. They are loving and they're caring breeds of dogs.
01:54 And most people see though that because they race, they need huge amounts of exercise.
01:58 And actually most greyhounds like a short walk and they prefer to cuddle up on the sofa and have a cuddle with you.
02:04 So that's why they make great family pets. Their temperament is fantastic.
02:08 The difficulty we face as a rehoming charity, and we rehome a greyhound every week,
02:13 is they often come to us in a bad condition.
02:16 When we first got our greyhound, he didn't go up the stairs because he'd never been upstairs before.
02:21 And he's a bit wary. They're wary of washing machines and things like that because they've never been in a home before.
02:26 No, they haven't. They've been in kennels and they only come out for training and they come out for races.
02:31 Well, there's 13 million dog owners in this country and most of us, in fact, all of us wouldn't keep our family pet,
02:38 our family dog in a kennel all day and then just take it out for a walk.
02:42 The greyhounds are no different. They don't want to live like this.
02:44 And therefore, because they're not socialised and they don't see the things that you normally do in life, that's what happens.
02:49 They get scared of washing machines. And actually, that's one of the reasons we feel that it's not just the racing industry is the problem.
02:55 It's the overall care and welfare. And why now we're calling for an end to this sport and for people to sign the petition.
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