Update Report

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The following update report is a short breakdown of what proved to be a very successful meeting that I attended at the House Of Commons. If you require a full version of this please write including a cheque or postal order for £1.50 to cover printing and postal charges.

MEETING AGENDA AND GENERAL CAMPAIGN UPDATE
HELD ON TUESDAY JUNE 16 1998
AT THE HOUSE OF COMMONS
WESTMINSTER
LONDON
THOSE PRESENT

ROGER GALE MP
EILEEN GORDON MP
PAUL FLYNN MP
ANGELA BEVRIDGE P.A.L.
STEVE GRAHAM R.A.G.S.

APOLOGIES
MR. IVOR CAPLIN MP HAD BEEN INVITED TO THE PROCEEDINGS BUT WAS UNABLE TO ATTEND
AGENDA FOR THE MEETING
Ø R.A.G.S. Presentation
Ø Early Day Motion
Ø Brussels
Ø Strasbourg
Ø Year 2000 grants
Ø Funding
Ø Charity Status
Unfortunately due to unforeseen travel problems, the agenda that I had prepared for the meeting was abandoned. However, we did discuss a number of topics that I will go into in greater depth later in this report.

UPDATE REPORT FOR MEMBERS.
Web Site
R.A.G.S. and those associated with R.A.G.S. have now collected over 32,000 signatures. We also have a full presence on the Internet with the launch just over three months ago of our own R.A.G.S. web site that contains material conducive to R.A.G.S. and the work that we are aiming to do. R.A.G.S. also has its own e-mail address. As well as a special page called "Your Say" visitors can leave comments and / or messages pertaining to the site that they have just visited or any relevant information that we as a greyhound site may find useful. These can be filed for everyone to read. This web site has generated a substantial amount of interest both with web surfers and with other greyhound organisations alike. A large majority has already offered to add links from their home pages to ours at R.A.G.S. We are currently looking into the possibility of adding another page where we can collect on-line donations that could be paid directly into the R.A.G.S. account via a credit card pay page (this is still in the pipeline).
Articles
We have also had several articles written regarding our work. Two of the most recent are those by Dan Birgerson, a Swedish freelance reporter and Julia Long who writes for Political Animals. Julia has promised to give R.A.G.S. a mention in this week's newsletter. Mr Birgerson has written an article for a Malmo farming newspaper and is now putting together a similar article for one of the major Sunday newspapers in Stockholm.
Donations
After writing to both the International Fund for Animal Welfare, and the Political Animal Lobby R.A.G.S. has received generous contributions. Although this has been a financial Godsend, it only begins to scratch the surface of the real need of R.A.G.S. to be able to generate some serious cash. Because we have been in so much debt prior to these contributions being made we are now almost back to square one where money is concerned - we haven't got any. This is why Angela Bevridge (Political Animal Lobby) has offered to donate a further contribution towards our work. At this point, I as the Chief Executive would personally like to thank Angela and P.A.L. for their continued support.
Ann Finch
R.A.G.S. and Anne Finch are working closely together. This indicates that she can see the knock-on effect that these grants represent.

More dogs bred in Ireland = More dogs going to Spain
More dogs going to Spain = More dogs needing to be rescued
More dogs needing to be rescued = More strain on r&w organisations.
The Knock-On Effect
As mentioned before, the Euro grants in our opinion will be the single most important factor in the over-production of the breed. At present, the Euro grants have officially finished due to the insufficient funds. This is a direct statement from the Ministry for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries in Ireland. I personally find this very hard to believe considering there was a sum of £5 million earmarked for this project. However, there is a very strong possibility that these grants will be re-introduced in some way, back into Ireland before the year 2000.
R.A.G.S. must now show Europe more than ever the fundamental effects that these grants will have on the greyhound breed as a whole. In principle what Brussels is trying to achieve is to breed a super strain of dog. Unfortunately to breed quality you must first breed quantity and even after that, there is no positive guarantee that you will have success.
Anyone associated with the greyhound industry knows that if this if this continues we will revert back to the situation that we had between 1964 and 1975.
Four stud dogs added up to being responsible for almost 95% of all the greyhounds bred. In layman's terms, 231 of the 287 winning sires from last year are descended from these four dogs. More recently you would have to add the name of I'm Slippy to the list as well. The knock-on effect of this breed will be short of catastrophic. Figures that have been released by Britain's largest canine rescue The National Canine Defence League estimates that of all the dogs that are in their care at any one time almost 1/3 of them are greyhounds. These are dogs that are either too old to race or are carrying an injury or are simply just not quick enough.
These dogs, and many more dogs like them make up the majority of the unfortunate animals who are sent to Spain to live and die in horrible conditions in the name of sport. A recent report written by Mr. David Cohen who runs a greyhound rescue in Montreal in Canada vividly depicts the conditions the conditions and the quality of life that these hounds must endure.
Points from the meeting
As stated before due to my late arrival at the meeting the agenda that was scheduled was subsequently scrapped. However, in the short time that was apportioned to the meeting by Mr Gale and Mr Flynn (who both had other engagements) it was decided that the introduction of an E.D.M. would not be beneficial. Mr. Gale suggested that he proceed with the idea of a Select Committee to spearhead a two pronged investigation.
1. Into the greyhound industry as a whole
2. With a tendency to lean towards the welfare of the animal after its racing days are through.
Mrs. Eileen Gordon requested a list of M.E.P.'s that R.A.G.S. had been working with to whom she could write with a view to forging stronger links with her European counterparts.
Whilst on the subject of funding, I had mentioned that R.A.G.S. had written to several large companies with a view to sponsorship for R.A.G.S. for the duration of the current campaign. I had also stipulated that the last company contacted had in fact offered sponsorship to Greyhound Rescue Wales, who had rejected their offer. I had then written to the company involved (Celtic Energy) requesting that R.A.G.S. be considered if Greyhound Rescue had withdrawn. However, an executive of Celtic Energy was told that they should have nothing to do with R.A.G.S.
Angela Bevridge then suggested that she might know someone who could be approached regarding an offer sponsorship to R.A.G.S.
This has been left in the capable hands of Angela Bevridge to deal with on behalf of R.A.G.S.
Brussels
I am still confident that Mr. David Morris M.E.P. will still be able to secure a meeting between Mr Gale, myself and the President of the European Union before Britain's presidency expires at the end of June. If not, the fact that the grants for this term have now ended allows R.A.G.S. to regroup and launch an updated campaign to get these grants ended. It is with a feeling of satisfaction that R.A.G.S. has achieved what we set out to do and then some. Not only have we collected over 32, 000 signatures, but also we have brought to attention and brought to the forefront of public awareness the fact that these greyhounds are being exploited and farmed in vast numbers. R.A.G.S. has recently obtained figures from the Greyhound studbook of litters that were registered in 1996.
If we examine the table, you will see that there has been a vast decline in numbers over a similar period in 1995. However, this only adds weight to the argument regarding the numbers of greyhounds that are actually bred. Bord na gCon states that there are only 20,000 greyhounds exported to the mainland every year. Please explain why, if the average litter contains 6.5 pups does this figure calculate to be 25, 044.

1979 3,805 litters

1995 4,174 litters

1996 3,853 litters - 321 litters

Strasbourg
Since my last trip to Strasbourg in March 1997, I have had little contact with the delegates that I addressed. This is simply because either they were not interested or the workload did not permit them to take on any other projects. It is because of this that when Mrs Gordon requested the address of Mr David Morris, I issued a list of other M.E.P.'s whom R.A.G.S. had dealt with in the past.
Year 2000
We must take seriously the treat that these grants will be re-introduced by the year 2000. We must also take seriously the fact that there is going to be potential greyhound explosion. We at R.A.G.S. can only estimate the numbers of puppies that will be produced if the re-introduction is given the green light. Some time ago, when we researched our first paper, we estimated then that the figure would be something in the region of 156,000 pups. Given that no one breeder was allowed more than three brood-bitches and they produced an average 6.5 pups. Returning to the original plan laid down by Mr. Fischler, he said that the number of greyhounds would be increased by 50%. If this is true, then we estimate the number of pups produced to be 234,000.
Question - if only 20,000 greyhounds are exported for racing what happens to the rest?
Answer - over 33% will never make the grade. They will be destroyed before they reach the age of 12 months. The rest will almost certainly be shipped to Spain where they will eventually die in appalling conditions.
Funding
At present R.A.G.S. is looking for sponsorship that would allow us to continue the work. In the three years, that R.A.G.S. has been campaigning donations totalling £1,936. Donations have been made by the Political Animal Lobby and the International Fund for Animal Welfare. When discussing the R.A.G.S. financial status Angela Bevridge (P.A.L.)offered a further contribution. I have, as mentioned previously left the idea with her that she had regarding a possible sponsor for R.A.G.S. This will possibly be discussed at the next meeting.
Charity Status
The option has been discussed within R.A.G.S. regarding Charity Status. We have looked into the subject in great depth and have decided that the outlay would overshadow the income. I have spoken to several other organisations and they have all expressed the same problems. Those being the need for an accountant, a solicitor and a bank. Well I suppose one out of three is not too bad. However, we have discovered that we can, with the permission of our local council, collect on the street. However, the only drawback that we can foresee is the fact that Greyhound Rescue Wales do regular street collections. Our application would go before the Licence Committee and may not be dealt with for several months. We have therefore decided that an alternative form of generating funds will need to be looked into.
In Closing
After our last meeting, I feel that R.A.G.S. has again taken a step in the right direction. If Mr Gale can persuade the Select Committee to investigate the greyhound problem, we can then get something done for these dogs.
Our immediate problem is one of sponsorship and lack of money; in addition, we need to know what the chances of a meeting with the President of the Parliament will be. Once these have been addressed, then I feel that R.A.G.S. will again have a voice in Europe and voice to speak up for and on behalf of the greyhounds.