The purpose of my visit to Mainland China was to see for myself what was happening before deciding whether GD should get involved or not. It was made crystal clear that I wanted to visit small and large kennels and speak independently to the people using my translator and, in some cases, using media translating programmes. My hosts could not have been more accommodating and spoke openly about the problems in Mainland China as did everyone I met. We travelled over 1500km covering most of the major areas greyhounds are being kept.

There are two opposing greyhound groups in Mainland China, one is people and tracks that gamble and the other is a group of people who are trying to set up a hobby sport. I personally have nothing against gambling but in China it is illegal. It should be noted that it is not just illegal on Greyhound racing but illegal throughout Mainland China on all sports or activities.

Racing is legal in Mainland China but gambling is not. This is why we hear stories of tracks being raided by police and shut down. It has nothing to do with the conditions of the tracks or dogs, it is simply the fact they are breaking the law by gambling.

GD have decided to help the people doing the right thing. Our contacts in Mainland China run a vet clinic specialising in DNA and microchipping which they have been doing for the last 10 years. All dogs entered into the new stud book being organised by Greyhound-Data will have their DNA recorded and will be microchipped. GD will be supplied with the microchip number and a copy of the DNA report. All DNA swabs will be sent to Australia or the USA.

In the link below you can see what GD are trying to achieve and have a look at some photos. I am in most of the photos to show they are recent and not pulled from a google search. The photos of me with the dogs show retired dogs ranging from 8 to 15 years old.

I really believe GD can a make a big difference in the welfare and accountability of all Greyhounds in Mainland China.

Please post any questions you may have and thank you for supporting GD.

CLICK HERE

Finally Mainland China has there own voice ...And a Stud Book .

10 Years of DNA research
This alone will be very interesting for the World to see .

Facebook
EXTERNAL LINK

Your truly achieving a Greyhound-Data.

Well done Tony. It sounds like your doing something that 10 years ago seemed impossible.

Now seriously and if we could take the first picture as an example CLICK HERE which one is you?

Thanks Kevin and Steve for the kind words. I have taken a position on the Greyhound Racing Club of Mainland China's executive committee to represent GD as I really believe something special can be achieved.

Rich

Fantastic job and I hope everything works out. While the AR's push the dog meat trade in China it appears dog meat is only sold in a couple of small areas. The idea that greyhounds are common in the meat trade is just made up by the AR's. As everyone knows greyhounds have very little meat on their bones and they are all muscle. Does this sound like something that a person wants to eat?

On this site,

EXTERNAL LINK
a person from China posted a few times about greyhounds in China. The posts are back in the end of April and beginning of May.

Great job.

Dick

I have people looking into this as when I asked the Chinese owners did they eat their greyhounds they laughed at me. One said that when their dog dies it is like the death of a close friend.

Apparently there is an area in China where they have a festival every year and they eat dogs. I have been told people from around the world are trying to stop this and so are the majority of people in China. I have no facts on any of this yet so I do not like to speculate but will report back when I have some answers.

BTW If you see any JOB Vacancies over there (Trainers, Musclemen) etc, please post!

I hope you can pull it off, because if you do, the sport all around the world will owe you a debt of gratitude as it will open up huge markets for all greyhounds around the world

However, their culture will need a complete overhaul as from what I have seen of China there aren't many animals that are held as sacred

Still, Greyhound-Data working with the Chinese authorities is a great start for the process and it is venturing into the unknown that many other racing jurisdictions have failed to capitalise on

Tony, I wish you every success in this venture

Terry, knowing the way GA work, they will sit on the fence until

1. it is fully proven that the Stud Book with full DNA records is up and running

2. the welfare protocol for racing and retired greyhounds is being fully observed and policed with appropriate punishment for cruel behaviour to greyhounds

Hi Sandro, you are correct. The welfare is paramount but at point in time I believe the Chinese government does not have a welfare policy in place for animals. There are rumours that this is about to change. Let hope the change comes quickly.

GRCC is very passionate about achieving its goals and will do so as rapidly as possible. I will keep you guys informed every step of the way.

I hope you take your findings to government eventually so we can open trade once again with China. All thoroughbred trainers and breeders in Australia & NZ acknowledge that without Chinese investment, their industry would be much worse off. We deserve that benefit too.

Good luck. And great idea

Hi Robert, thank you. The GRCC currently is having talks with two tracks and both appear to be very keen to join us. One of the tracks has not had racing for quite a while and if contracts go ahead in coming weeks they will start getting the track prepared. They have also verbally offered us an area of land well away from the track to use if we wish to set up a branch of our Greyhound Welfare Centre. Who they choose to hire to run their track I really have no idea as this is not a decision GRCC would be involved in.

Thanks again guys for your support.

Racing is legal in Mainland China but gambling is not.

Everyone should be allowed to have a punt I'll name a dog "Free To Bet" to help with the fight...kennel name Dalai.

We cannot save all dogs. Do you have facts about how many greyhounds end up in these markets? The answer will be no as no one knows unless the meat market keeps records and someone has access to these records and calculates the percentage of greyhounds. So to make a statement that large numbers of greyhounds end up in this place is simply speculation. The only way to find out how many dogs are not accounted for is to have a stud book and keep records of how many dogs go missing.

Not all Chinese eat greyhounds - Fact.

Unfortunately different breeds of dog are eaten but we cannot change all things overnight so we are focusing on supporting the people in China doing the right thing. To end a lot of the problems the Chinese government needs to implement a Cruelty to Animals Policy and that can only happen when organisation from within China really push for it. Outside pressure so far has not succeeded, so surely it's time to try something else.

When dogs finish racing we will be able to home some of them which is better than the current situation.

The way forward is not to raise thousands of dollars and send people from other countries into China to save a handful of greyhounds but to support the organisations within China that are try to change things and save thousands. If thousands need saving, again a Stud Book is needed to give actual figures.

Our immediate concern is to provide a Greyhound Welfare Centre as soon as possible in China so that we can help with the problems facing greyhounds when the police raid and close the tracks that have gambling as no one knows where these dogs end up.

Carole I cannot believe how many people do not agree with having a Greyhound Welfare Centre in China and Starting a Stud Book. I wonder if the rescue people had started this initiative in China if it then would have been a great idea.

The only sure thing that should change is that change is needed to even have a chance of improving things and that is exactly what we are doing.