this article has also made the front of the daily mirror and inside the guardian Monday 17th July:
Guardian :
www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,,1822332,00.html
Inquiry calls after killing of 10,000 greyhounds
Lee Glendinning
Monday July 17, 2006
The Guardian
The government is facing calls for an inquiry into the greyhound racing industry after reports that a builder's merchant killed and buried at least 10,000 of the dogs at his home in County Durham once they were past their racing prime.
A Sunday newspaper claimed David Smith had spent the past 15 years filling land at his home in the village of Seaham with dogs' carcasses. He is reported to have charged £10 a time to kill the dogs with a bolt gun and then buried them on a plot at the back of his home.
The chairman of a cross-party animal welfare group yesterday said the greyhound industry was in denial about the fate of thousand of dogs which were slaughtered in "canine killing fields". Eric Martlew MP said he would urge his colleagues to press for an urgent inquiry.
"This is absolutely appalling," he said. "It's time the industry cleaned up its act. For a long time now people have thought this kind of thing has been going on but without any evidence. I think the industry is in denial about it. There must be hundreds, if not thousands of people in the industry who knew what this man was doing."
The Carlisle MP went on to say he suspected there were probably other people around the country doing the same thing.
Greyhounds race until they are three to five years old. After this, some are found homes, where they can live to the age of 14, but some vanish.
The associate parliamentary group for animal welfare is to hold a meeting on the issue this morning.
The government has also said it will look at the allegations which emerged after the Sunday Times said it had covertly filmed Mr Smith receiving the greyhounds and putting them down. Under current law no licence is needed to put down animals with a bolt gun.
Mr Smith told the Daily Mirror that he was no longer involved in the practice and that he had given what money he had made to charity.
The minister for animal welfare, Ben Bradshaw, said he was shocked by the claims. "It sounds horrendous and we would be interested in seeing the evidence that's been gathered in this case."
Alistair McLean, chief executive of the National Greyhound Racing Club, which governs the sport, promised an inquiry and said: "We categorically do not endorse this sort of thing."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17395720%26method=full%26siteid=94762%26headline=the%2dman%2dwho%2ds%2dshot%2d10%2d000%2dgreyhounds%2d-name_page.html17 July 2006
THE MAN WHO'S SHOT 10,000 GREYHOUNDS
Fury over builder's killing field for dogs too old to keep racing
By Jeremy Armstrong
BUILDER David Smith leads two greyhounds to a secret slaughterhouse where he has killed 10,000 of the dogs for ???15 a time.
Within seconds of them entering the breeze block shed, Smith shot both of the retired racing dogs with a bolt gun.
He then emerged with their bodies in a blood-spattered wheelbarrow at the back of his builders' merchant yard.
Advertisement
Smith buried them using a mechanical digger in his one-acre plot - a hidden graveyard of Britain's ???3.5billion dog-racing industry.
Animal groups yesterday reacted with shock and anger and called for action.
Smith told a man posing as a greyhound owner that he had filled his plot in three years.
"Within a year the bodies have gone," he said. Gesturing to the far side of the field, he explained: "It takes me about three years to get across there and by then I can start back here again and there are only a few bones left." Racing insiders say Smith of Seaham, Co Durham, has killed at least 10,000 dog at the unofficial abattoir during the past 15 years.
One source revealed: "It is not unheard of for him to do around 40 dogs a day. If anyone ever digs up that garden it will be like the killing fields.
"These dogs have made a lot of people a lot of money and do not deserve to be shot in the head. It is a scandal the industry should be ashamed of."
Yet, amazingly, what Smith is doing is not against the law. Once racing greyhounds reach three-and-a-half most are considered too old to compete, even though they have a lifespan of 12 to 14 years.
The RSPCA says around 12,000 greyhounds a year disappear. It added: "There is no justification for killing these animals simply because they can't do their job any more."
When confronted, Smith, who is in his 50s, initially denied running a slaughterhouse until told he had been filmed.
Then he claimed he was "doing society a favour". Restraining a pair of Rottweilers, Smith said: "These are sick and injured dogs that would otherwise be thrown out on the streets because owners can't afford vet's bills. I'm not doing it any more. The little bit of cash I was paid went to children's charities."
Alistair McLean, chief executive of the UK's National Greyhound Racing Club said yesterday: "This is disgraceful. We categorically do not endorse this kind of thing."
Britian's minister for animal welfare Ben Bradshaw promised to investigate. He added: "It sounds horrendous."
Since 1997 anyone can own a bolt gun to kill animals without a licence.
They can be prosecuted if animals are put down inhumanely or without the owner's consent.
A new code of practice proposed under the UK animal welfare bill would restrict the killing of greyhounds to vets using lethal injections.
jeremy.armstrong@mirror.co.uk