THE discovery of a number of greyhound bodies in a county Limerick quarry, as reported on page one of last week’s issue of the Limerick Post, has been condemned by Bord na gCon.
Bord na gCon has confirmed that identification markings on some of the animals were still intact and the owners of same have already been identified and will now be questioned.
Barry Coleman, Welfare Officer of Bord na gCon, said:
“We are giving very strong assurances to the public that the perpetrators of this awful act will be pursued and we ensure they will face the full rigours of the law.
“The vast majority of all stakeholders in the greyhound industry abhor this kind of treatment which we all utterly condemn. With the recently passed Greyhound Welfare Bill, we now have greater power to tackle cruel acts of this nature and we intend to exercise the full extent of the law following the recent discovery in Limerick”.
At this stage investigations are still on-going under the recently passed Greyhound Welfare Bill 2011 and all findings will be also passed to an Garda Siochana.
In a statement, the IGB said they encouraged owners to keep or rehome retired racing Greyhounds as pets and are now undertaking a number of initiatives to promote retired greyhounds as pets, including recent work with the Irish Kennel Club.
The Board, through their Greyhound Welfare Officer, have also a substantial rehoming project in place where retired greyhounds are rehomed as pets in Ireland and in countries like Italy, Czech Republic, UK as well as the Benelux and Scandinavian countries.
