Revealed: the man who killed 10,000 dogs (moral, testimony, Earth, grace)

[jamaesi]

THE secret slaughter of at least 10,000 racing greyhounds by one man has been exposed by an undercover investigation. For the past 15 years David Smith, a builders’ merchant, has been killing healthy greyhounds no longer considered by their trainers to be fast enough to race. He buries them in a one-acre plot at the back of his home in Seaham, Co Durham.

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Last week The Sunday Times covertly filmed Smith on two consecutive days receiving greyhounds from trainers before killing them with a bolt gun, dumping them in the plot and covering over the “graves” using a mechanical digger.
He told an undercover reporter it took him three years to fill the field, at which point he simply started all over again. “Within a year the bodies have gone,” said Smith. “It takes me about three years to get across there and by the time I get there I can start back here again and there are only a few bones left.”
According to Sunday Times calculations and testimony of two racing insiders, it is conservatively estimated Smith has killed at least 10,000 dogs.
The scandal, described as the “canine killing fields” by one campaigner, has shocked the government and greyhound industry, which attracts bets of £2.5 billion a year.
Ben Bradshaw, minister for animal welfare, said Smith’s business was “horrendous” and promised an inquiry into the slaughter and potential health and environmental hazard of such a large-scale dumping of dogs’ bodies. Alistair McLean, chief executive of the National Greyhound Racing Club, which governs the sport, described it as a “euthanasia factory” and promised an inquiry. “This is disgraceful. We categorically don’t endorse this kind of thing,” he said.
The RSPCA has previously expressed “grave concerns” about the fate of up to 12,000 retired greyhounds that go missing every year. A spokesman said: “There is no justification for killing these animals simply because they can’t do their job any more.”
Smith charges owners and trainers £10 to kill unwanted dogs, many only a few years old. One trainer, who asked not to be named, said: “This man kills dogs for 40 licensed trainers and there are at least 10,000 dogs in his field. People in the industry have been going to him for years. Many of the bigwigs knew it was going on.”
Since 1997 anyone has been able to own a bolt gun to kill animals without a licence, although they can be prosecuted if the animals are put down inhumanely or without the owner’s permission. A new code of practice proposed under the animal welfare bill would restrict the killing of greyhounds to vets using “humane” lethal injections.
After being confronted this weekend Smith said he would stop killing dogs, which he said he had done in the past for “humane” reasons.

Source.



Another reason I dislike animal racing- the animals are bred fast and used hard and when they become or were born "useless" they're killed.

[Ori]

That is disgusting, if I knew this person personally I would kill them.

[evearael]

This is horrible. I encourage everyone who wants a dog to look into adopting a greyhound so these dogs get a loving home rather than death when they cannot race anymore.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by Ori

That is disgusting, if I knew this person personally I would kill them.

My first thought also was that this man deserves to die.

[angellous_evangellous]

Once again we are reminded of the relationship between humanity and the canine.

Family Dog Saves Toddler Playing On Rooftop
Man saves puppy from alligator

And the immortal words of Glas:
http://www.religiousforums.com/forum...473#post479473

Sometimes during the horror of an intensely dark night or when life becomes even more unspeakably loathsome than usual I console myself with the following thought: That one day in the future - perhaps in a hundred years, or a thousand years, or ten thousand years - a human being will be born whom nature has equipped with the inner resources and strength of character which will enable them to attain to the moral level of a dog. Who can say that such a thought is utterly incredible? Who can say that it is beyond all possibility of ever being realised? No one, of course. But what can be said with absolute certainty is that such a human being would be unique among all the members of the human species who had ever appeared on the earth, so much so that this extraordinary individual would become the stuff of legend, and - who knows? - maybe even religions would be built around him or her...

[michel]

Originally Posted by evearael

This is horrible. I encourage everyone who wants a dog to look into adopting a greyhound so these dogs get a loving home rather than death when they cannot race anymore.

Greyhounds make wonderful pets; most are afraid of taking them on, thinking they need a lot of exercise, but apparently they don't.

Pople like this..............Arghhhhhhhhhh

[Bishka]

That's absolutley disgusting.