Mark Bird responds to Welsh Greyhound Racing ban announcement

Wales to ban greyhound racing

It was announced by Huw Irranca-Davies, the Deputy First Minister of Wales on Tuesday afternoon that Wales would move to ban greyhound racing at the earliest opportunity. 

He said "our consultation on a national model for animal welfare, which included questions relating to greyhounds, received over 1100 responses." As was discovered at the time, 44% of the individual responses (292 of 667) were all from the League Against Cruel Sports. Sadly for greyhound racing, their ballot box stuffing tactics have been completely overlooked. 

Mark Bird, Chief Executive Officer for the Greyhound Board of Great Britain, said:

“This announcement has nothing to do with greyhound welfare and everything to do with pressure from the extreme animal rights movement.

“The Welsh Government’s own Summary of Consultation Responses highlighted the lack of evidence to support the case for a ban on the sport. This Summary made clear there has been a coordinated campaign against licensed greyhound racing, seeking to drown out the voice of local people including those whose livelihoods rely on the sport.

“Questions should be asked as to why – despite repeated requests – the Minister has failed to meet with the industry in Wales, or its regulator, and preempted his own timeline to make this call.

“Meanwhile the Minister has engaged on numerous occasions with campaign groups known to use shock tactics and misleading information to achieve their ends.

“We have engaged in the consultation process in good faith as regulator for the sport, but this statement is hugely disappointing and will do absolutely nothing to support greyhound welfare.”