Tuesday 23 April 2019

Adopted For Breeding




Imagine a trusted dog rescue - taking donations from the public - was
homing dogs and at the same time it's volunteers were breeding more dogs.
The outcry would be justified.


Any greyhound being adopted is of course a wonderful thing. Any promotion in the media of how greyhounds make amazing companion animals is also a wonderful thing. However, IGS feels that it is important that such promotion should include details of the overwhelming numbers of greyhounds being bred compared to the numbers being homed, to show the scale of the problem.
This is why IGS emailed the RTÉ Radio 1 Ryan Tubridy Show about the Catriona Ní Duill interview on the Irish Retired Greyhound Trust and greyhound adoption.
We supplied the radio show with recent breeding figures - as given/recorded by the Irish Coursing Club registrations. We also invited the show to look into the IRGT finances and homing figures compared to the UK's RGT, and to look at how despite taking public donations the IRGT uses it's status to not have to be accountable to the public on how their donations are used.

IGS received no reply of interest to our informative email.

Catriona Ní Duill appeared on the radio show on Monday 22nd April 2019. The show, called 'Billy The Greyhound' , gave a great insight to listeners on the wonderful attributes greyhounds have, and how they make wonderful pets.
Catriona spoke of the work of the IRGT and her work for/with the IRGT.
She spoke delightfully about her greyhound Billy.
How Billy was "available for adoption" in 2015.
How Billy has saved nine(dog)lives after becoming a blood donor.
How Billy featured in an IRGT promotional video on the Irish Greyhound Board YouTube channel.

What Catriona did not talk about, though, was how she and her son have used Billy(who was used for racing under the name of Tynwald Bish)for breeding since she 'adopted' him.

Twenty two pups registered in the ICC greyhound stud book, while eighteen of those pups are recorded on the Irish Greyhound Board website - from Tynwald Bish aka Billy.

This is certainly rare, as the normal procedure of adoption would be
 that the greyhounds are neutered. 

Billy was advertised as recently as April 14th 2019, along with another greyhound, Tommy Brislane(from Australia), as stud dogs at Catriona's kennels - just eight days before Catriona's radio interview on adoption.
Three days before the interview, on the 19th April 2019, an advert was placed for greyhound pups for sale from greyhound Kuma Bubbles, 'marked up and ready to go' - Catriona being the contact seller.

In the radio interview Catriona quickly dismissed the question on breeding by replying how greyhound breeding has fallen - whilst this is true it is a shame the interviewer didn't press with the question using the still-shocking breeding figures supplied to her.

Catriona and Billy also appeared in the Westmeath Examiner in November 2018 to promote the IRGT.

It is no big news that there are those who give their time to the
 Irish Retired Greyhound Trust who are
 also involved in breeding more greyhounds.
How they fail to see their contribution to the overwhelming numbers of greyhounds needing homes, and adding to the overwhelming and tireless work
 of many dog rescues in Ireland, is quite offensive.