(CN) 400 greyhounds in a race to the death each year in Macau

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South China Morning Post

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Dogs culled as track fails to grab a share of gaming boom

by Niall Fraser

Aug 26, 2007

 

Asia's only greyhound racetrack is putting down as many as 400 dogs a year

as it battles to grab its share of Macau's gaming dollars.

 

Officials at Yat Yuen Canidrome say the mass cull is justified because of

injuries to the animals, old age, cost, and a quirk of the city's dog-owning

regulations that stipulates only track operators can own and keep the breed.

 

Animal rights campaigners have condemned the practice as inhumane and called

on the authorities to re-examine the rules governing greyhound ownership,

paving the way for an adoption scheme for retired dogs.

 

Details of the annual programme of lethal injections - carried out by

registered veterinarians - emerged as the dog track struggled to share in

the cash flooding into Macau.

 

Rebecca Ngan Yee-ling, of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals in Hong Kong, said nothing excused the use of animals in sport to

their detriment, including their fate after retirement.

 

Revenue at the track has slumped in recent years, and despite diversifying

into slot machines, operations manager Chris Kuong Wing-hung said the track

was battling to survive.

 

Mr Kuong was matter of fact when asked about the fate of up to half the 700

to 800 greyhounds, which are almost exclusively brought from Australia by

the Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome Co (MYC). He was unclear on what constituted

an old dog. Greyhounds normally live for between 10 and 13 years.

 

" Most of the dogs racing are between one and three years old. Because of

injury or old age, between 300 and 400 have to be put down at the end of the

year. It is done by lethal injection by qualified vets, " he said.

 

" It is also against the law for anyone except the MYC to own and keep

greyhounds in Macau, so we have nowhere for them to go. "

 

He said the greyhounds needed to be kennelled, fed and exercised, which cost

HK$1,300 a month per animal, and this was on top of sourcing and transport

costs.

 

The MYC buys them for about A$2,000 (HK$13,000) each and then holds regular

auctions to find investors, who buy up to a third of the dogs. The rest

remain MYC property.

 

Ms Ngan said: " We would urge Macau to take any necessary steps to re-examine

their laws to make sure that everything is done to make sure the dogs are

taken care of properly after their retirement. "

 

Macau's greyhound industry is not alone in destroying dogs. It is reckoned

that in the United States, as many as 12,000 dogs a year are put down. There

is a programme in the US, however, that sees 90 per cent of retired dogs

adopted when they cannot run anymore, according to the National Greyhound

Association.

 

The dogs run in 16 races a meeting, four nights a week, 52 weeks a year.

Punters pay an entrance fee of 10 patacas - which for locals can be

converted into a bet - but the canidrome struggles to get more than 1,000

customers at each of its Monday, Thursday and Sunday meetings.

 

" We sometimes get up to 2,000 on a Saturday night, but our problem is that

the bulk of them are mainland tourist groups, " Mr Kuong said.

 

" They are here for a bit of fun and only really stay for the first three or

four races, then leave, off to one of the casinos. They also only bet a tiny

amount, usually the minimum 10 patacas each race. "

 

Turnover on an average night is about HK$1.5 million, about 20 times less

than at a horse race meeting in Macau. Once the overheads kick in, the

profit is about 20 per cent. " Hardly the Sands, " Mr Kuong admits.

 

Five years ago, the Sunday Morning Post (SEHK: 0583, announcements, news)

revealed that up to 300 racehorses a year in Macau, many of them healthy,

were killed by a bullet to the head.

 

The Macau Jockey Club said this was because of a lack of facilities and a

dearth of funds to keep those that were not winning.