FORMER SPORTING GREYHOUNDS exported from Ireland are being used in a cruel “new craze” sport in India.
Noteworthy can reveal how the dogs are being forced to chase speeding motorbikes on open stretches of road in dangerous organised competitions.
Videos obtained by Noteworthy show greyhounds racing to exhaustion in front of hundreds of jeering spectators.
In one shocking video, a dog described as an Irish greyhound narrowly misses being run over after racing in front of a motorbike it had been pursuing.
Other clips show animals being forcibly handled in the gruelling races that have been blasted by Indian animal rights activists.
The revelations come more than three years after Rásaíocht Con Éireann (RCÉ), Ireland’s greyhound board, vowed to crackdown on the exports of dogs to countries with poor animal welfare track records via its new traceability system.
However, an investigation by Noteworthy has found that Irish sporting dogs are still regularly being shipped to countries such as Pakistan, India and Nepal.
In a statement, RCÉ said it “deplores” the maltreatment of any greyhound “irrespective of where it happens”, but added: “Rásaíocht Con Éireann, or any Irish regulator, has no control of events outside the jurisdiction of Ireland.”
Noteworthy, the crowdfunded community-led investigative platform from The Journal, supports independent and impactful public interest journalism.
According to records from one Pakistan coursing club, multiple coursing greyhounds identified as having been exported from Ireland have raced competitions there over the last year.
Imported greyhounds participate in separate races from greyhounds bred in the country, with a category specifically for Irish greyhounds.
In response to a parliamentary question, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM), which oversees the Greyhound and Animal Welfare acts, previously said it had “no record” of direct exports of greyhounds to Pakistan from Ireland.
Noteworthy asked the Department if this was still the case.
In response, a DAFM spokesperson confirmed that there had been no direct exports of greyhounds from Ireland to India or Pakistan in 2023 or “to date in 2024″.
“In accordance with EU and National legislation, canines can be legally exported from Ireland once they comply with the relevant welfare in transport legislation and the relevant animal health requirements,” DAFM said.
“If a canine is legally exported from Ireland to another jurisdiction, it is then a matter for the relevant authorities in that country to consider whether or not to facilitate any subsequent export requests.”
Animal rights group Campaign Against Greyhound Exploitation & Death (CAGED) say Irish dogs are being exported to the UK before being moved on to other countries.
Noteworthy uncovered a number of social media posts on Pakistani coursing club pages recently advertising pups bred from exported Irish greyhound champions.
Other advertisements on the social media pages include the sale of a “freshly imported” two-year-old dog described as coming from “the best bloodline”.
It is unclear from the post if the dog being sold has been exported from Ireland.
It was advertised for the non-negotiable price of 1 million rupees – equivalent to just over €3,300.
Greyhounds are also being traded for lucrative sums in some parts of India for use in the relatively new – and illegal – motorbike lure coursing sport.
Described as a “new craze” by one Indian newspaper, the practice is said to have emerged in the western state of Maharashtra after bullock cart racing, hunting and snake-catching were all outlawed.
According to an article published in the Hindustan Times, the race involves the dog running behind a motorbike with its owner as either the rider or the passenger on the back.
The timing of each dog is recorded individually and the fastest is deemed the winner.
The races – illegal under state law – are advertised through WhatsApp groups with prize money “directly proportional to the number of greyhounds showing up for the race”, one punter told the publication.
Dogs used in the races have the underside of their paws fitted with tape so they can race on hot road surfaces.
At least one event is organised per day in the area, with animal rights activists telling the newspaper that the competitions violate multiple local and national laws.
Despite being illegal, the sport has continued to grow in popularity with one racing social media page amassing over 1.2 million followers.
Greyhound Awareness Cork (GAC), which has been campaigning for a ban on greyhound racing in Ireland for many years, says the industry is not doing enough to stop the cruel exports.
A spokesperson told Noteworthy: “The Irish greyhound industry has the authority to exclude somebody for bringing the sport into disrepute. But as far as we can see, that is not happening.
“Instead they put the blame on the countries on where these dogs end up. It’s somebody else’s problem, but we’re not doing anything wrong. Actions speak louder than words.”
The group, which works with greyhound rescues in Ireland, said the suffering the dogs would endure in countries such as India is unthinkable.
“Greyhounds are built for speed not for endurance, so it is very easy to completely exhaust them,” GAC said.
“Once the adrenaline is going, the dog will keep going until it basically collapses.
“They will race and race until they just drop. And in places like India, it’s much warmer along with a lack of vets – some areas have none at all.”
In 2017, the Irish Council Against Blood Sports (ICABS) revealed how one individual involved in exporting dogs from Ireland, was also involved in brutal pig fights in Pakistan.
The animal rights group obtained footage of one organised animal fight which showed two greyhounds attacking a tethered pig in front of bloodsport enthusiasts.
The video, uploaded to a Pakistani Facebook page and seen by Noteworthy, identified that the dogs belonged to Dr Aftab Niazi, a surgeon who had bought and exported a number of champion greyhounds from Ireland.
That included one dog that had taken part in races at the Irish Coursing Club’s (ICC) National Meeting in Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
Niazi, who regularly boasted about the dogs on social media, was later murdered in a targeted gun attack near his home in the city of Mianwali in 2020.
In Ireland, two separate traceability systems exist for tracking both coursing and racing greyhounds.
The registration of any greyhound currently lies with the ICC as the keepers of the Irish Stud Book. All greyhounds, regardless of their future involvement in any activity, must be registered by way of registration of the litter with the ICC.
The RCÉ is mandated with the responsibility for greyhound racing and racing greyhounds.
Under its RCÉTS traceability system, all non-coursing greyhounds are microchipped and tracked from 12 weeks old.
Details that are recorded include the dog’s racing career, changes of ownership or trainer, location, export, retirement and end of life.
However, figures obtained via parliamentary questions last year by Greyhound Action Ireland (GAI) revealed that 1,579 or 14% of the 11,047 non-coursing greyhounds born in 2022 and microchipped, had not been entered onto RCÉTS.
GAI said the system does not record the country of destination of dogs exported to anywhere outside the UK.
“Irish dogs are still being exported directly to countries like Spain, China and Pakistan, where few or no laws exist to protect animals from the most brutal treatment,” GAI’s Nuala Donlon said in a statement at the time.
“This, despite “Rásaíocht Con Éireann’s claim that they are opposed to exports to countries that do not meet Ireland’s welfare standards.”
In response, a RCÉ spokesperson told Noteworthy: “RCÉ deplores the maltreatment of any greyhound irrespective of where it happens.
“RCÉ emphasises to owners their responsibilities in exporting to any destination and the necessity to ensure that the receiving destination provides the expected levels of greyhound welfare set out in RCÉs Code of Practice for the Care and Welfare of the Greyhound.“
RCÉ spokesperson said it can investigate and bring prosecutions against those in the industry who mistreat dogs under the Welfare of Greyhounds Act 2011.
However, the legislation does not extend “beyond the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland”.
“Any person or persons found to have been in breach of the Welfare of Greyhounds Act 2011 have been and will continue to be subject to prosecution,” RCÉ said.
The greyhound body said it does not have a statutory function regarding the regulation of greyhound exports.
“The movement of all canine breeds, including greyhounds, between EU Member States and to countries outside of the EU is currently set at a European level rather than as a national measure in isolation,” the statement said.
“RCÉ wishes to advise that it is not an illegal act to export any animal from Ireland so long as relevant Transport Regulations are complied with.”
The ICC said attempts to tighten export regulations in Ireland have so far been unsuccessful.
ICC secretary DJ Histon said that a Dáil debate on the Greyhound Racing Regulations 2019 discussed the possibility of introducing a “white list” of countries considered safe to export greyhounds.
The list was to be formulated by members of the now defunct International Greyhound Forum, he told Noteworthy.
“However, the legal advice provided to the government considered it incompatible with domestic and European law,” Histon said.
“The proposed legislation to ban the export of greyhounds to certain countries, EU or non-EU, would face significant legal difficulties with national and EU law,” he added.
It also posed difficulties with the international trade agreements, the ICC secretary said.
“The same difficulty was experienced by the Australian greyhound authorities when they were unable to pass state laws preventing the export of greyhounds to China.
“The same issues relate to non-greyhound breeds in terms of exporting world wide.”
Read more articles in this series >>
Is animal welfare protected in the coursing industry?
By Patricia Devlin of Noteworthy
Noteworthy is the crowdfunded investigative journalism platform from The Journal. This project was proposed and funded by our readers.
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