This Sunday, January 25th, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) will be holding their annual awards ceremony at the Hilton Metropole Hotel, 225 Edgware Road, London W2 1JU.

This is a yearly booze-up, dance and banquet, where the GBGB (formerly known at the British
Greyhound Racing Board) hands out trophies to their various pals within the greyhound racing
industry.

As at last year's event, supporters of international greyhound protection group Greyhound Action will be there, outside the hotel, carrying banners and placards, to loudly protest at the annual suffering and slaughter of many thousands of dogs caused by the greyhound racing industry and for which the GBGB is directly responsible.

Greyhound Action's UK coordinator, Tony Peters, said: "We’re not going to let the GBGB get away with their wining, dining and mutual back-slapping without vociferously bringing home to them exactly what we think about their disgusting so-called "sport" that makes them all a nice living from the ruthless persecution of innocent creatures.

"The British greyhound racing industry, overseen to a very large extent by the GBGB, is responsible
for the deaths of many thousands of greyhounds every year. These dogs are killed, either because
they are not suitable for racing or because their racing careers are over.

"Our research indicates that about 15,000 young greyhounds, bred for racing on British tracks, are
put to death every year after being judged unsuitable for the purpose.

"In addition, the greyhound racing industry itself admits that around 2,000 ex-racing dogs are 'put
down' annually when their 'careers' on the track are over.

"This means that about 17,000 greyhounds are put to death every year because of dog racing in
Britain and that each of the 28 major tracks is, on average, responsible for the deaths of over 600.

"There are various greyhound rescue groups, who do excellent work in finding homes for some of the dogs that 'retire' from racing at the tracks, but this only amounts to a minority of the greyhounds
disposed of because of the existence of the British dog racing industry.

"In recent years there have been many media exposés of the wholesale slaughter of greyhounds
disposed of by the racing industry and several mass graves, containing the bodies of shot
greyhounds, have been discovered.

"Greyhound racing also causes the death of many thousands of other dogs apart from greyhounds, as places in homes and rescue kennels, which could go to other stray and 'unwanted' dogs, are taken up by greyhounds got rid of by the racing industry, meaning that those other dogs are 'put down' because there is nowhere for them to go.

"In addition there are thousands of injuries, many of them serious, caused to greyhounds running on
British tracks every year, because the shape of the tracks, with long straights leading into tight
bends, creates a very dangerous environment for the dogs to run in.

"Greyhound Action believes that the only real solution to this horrific state of affairs is for
the greyhound racing industry to be outlawed, which is why we are calling on the government to do
this, through the simple measure of making it illegal to place or accept bets on dog races.

"Nine states in the USA have abolished commercial greyhound racing in recent years, so there is no reason why a ban shouldn't be imposed in the UK.

"In the meantime, we are urging the public to boycott the dog racing industry. If enough people
refrained from attending greyhound racing and stopped betting on races, then the activity would die
out through lack of financial support."

For more information contact Tony Peters on 01562 700 043 or 07703 558724
See also the Greyhound Action website at  http://www.greyhoundaction.org.uk
Photos from last year's demonstration (when the event was held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel) can be viewed at  http://tinyurl.com/LondonAwardsDemo08