People Are Giving Greyhounds Cocaine And It Needs To Stop

Dog lovers have a tremendous amount of concern for racing greyhounds. There are rescue organizations that take the dogs when they are retired and place them in loving homes. However, before they are retired, their lives can be an absolute hell.

In addition to not being treated compassionately, some greyhounds are given cocaine in an attempt to improve their speed on the track. The champion of one of Ireland’s top racing tracks tested positive for cocaine five months ago. Cocaine was detected in three separate tests. The trainer claimed the poor dog must have accidentally ingested the drug. Cocaine isn’t a drug that is usually around dogs, so that’s a pretty blatantly deceitful excuse.

Four greyhounds in Ireland tested positive for cocaine while several others were found to have steroids and methamphetamines in their systems. It appears the dogs are being drugged to get them to race faster.

Simon Banks with the Greyhound Board of Great Britain claims the organization is taking this news seriously. He said things are changing:

We are testing more after races and less at trial sessions, but the number of tests are more or less the same over recent years – what has changed is the science employed by the labs which can find more minute levels of substances.

We also now have the ability to test hair samples, which give lifetime results – cocaine is a stimulant and therefore could be performance enhancing.

However, the cases we have come across are probably down to contamination from people’s hands etc. as the levels are so low.

The levels we have been detecting, measure in thousands of a nanogram would probably have no effect at all.

However, the damage to the image of the sport is very significant. That’s why a lot of positives lead to a charge of bringing the sport into disrepute.

This problem isn’t exclusive to Europe. There have been racing greyhounds here in the United States that have also tested positive for cocaine as the video below reveals.

Cocaine obviously isn’t healthy for dogs. It can cause heart attacks and seizures among many other complications. Drugging dogs is a form of abuse.

Share this if you want people who drug dogs to be charged with a crime!

Source: Unilad