Retired Greyhound Trust volunteer is recognised with national award
Published on January 28, 2008 by Freelance Contributors · 5 CommentsRetired Greyhound Trust (RGT) volunteer, Alison Bandurak, was chosen to receive an award for ‘services to retired greyhounds’ at this year’s British Greyhound Racing Board (BGRB) Awards ceremony.
As the manager of Monmore Green RGT near Wolverhampton, Alison recently celebrated rehoming her 1,000th greyhound. The BGRB Award recognises her ongoing dedication to caring for greyhounds after they retire from the racetrack.
Monmore Green RGT, one of 70 nationwide branches of the charity, was founded in 2002 and has gone from strength to strength thanks to Alison’s enthusiasm and hard work.
“I was really surprised when I heard I had won this award,” comments Alison. “There are thousands of volunteers working tirelessly for retired greyhounds, but everyone – be they owners, trainers, promoters or the media – has a role to play. Greyhounds are such wonderful dogs and they all deserve to have a happy retirement once their racing careers are over.”
The RGT was also celebrating as guests attending the gala dinner at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel made this year’s awards ceremony the most successful fund raising event ever for the charity. RGT volunteers collected £10,000 in donations, raised through the sale of raffle tickets and an auction.
“It was a great evening for the RGT,” comments Ivor Stocker, RGT director. “It was fantastic to see Alison rewarded for all her hard work looking after retired greyhounds and promoting them as pets within her local community.
“The £10,000 we raised will go a long way to support the work of our many volunteers. I would like to thank everyone for their generous donations.”
To find out more about adopting a retired greyhound from your local branch or for more information about becoming an RGT volunteer log on to
www.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk or call the charity’s head office on 0844 826 842.
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Congratulations to Alison.
However, despite the work of dedicated rescue workers like her, about 20,000 greyhounds continue to be put to death annually, because of the British greyhound racing industry and, as one of Britain’s 30 major greyhound stadiums, the existence of the Monmore Green track is responsible for the deaths of about 600 greyhounds every year.
In addition, the fact that Alison has rehomed over 1,000 greyhounds does not mean that the lives of 1,000 dogs have been saved, as most of the people giving homes to those greyhounds would have adopted another type of homeless dog instead, had no greyhounds been available for adoption. Thus, by continually disposing of large numbers of “unwanted” greyhounds, the racing industry is also responsible for the “putting down” of thousands of non-greyhound dogs.
It is for these reasons that commercial greyhound racing must be brought to an end, which is why we, as an international greyhound protection organisation, are calling on the public not to attend or bet on greyhound races, so that this death-industry fades away through lack of financial support.
See our website at http://www.greyhoundaction.org.uk for more information.
Tony Peters, UK Co-ordinator, Greyhound Action
I am sorry to have to say that as a voluenteer at monmore green rehoming centre under Alison i think you are talking utter crap.
You go on about other dogs not being homed because greyhounds are homed instead of them and then have the audacity to say you are against racing and are trying to do something about it, well if you truly were you would care that greyhounds are being rehomed not other breeds of dog, if greyhounds are your passion it shouldnt matter but you are too busy being a martyr.
Everyone has an opinion but after an article written for the positive aspects of the RGT you have to bring it down to your utterly worthless opinion on racing. Dont bombard people with facts that aren’t true or opinions of your fellow campaigners to hide the fact that you are really trying to stop a sport that has been and will continue to run for many more years to come.
i own 3 ex racing greyhounds and i do not agree with racing but neither do i shove it down peoples throats.
“about 20,000 greyhounds continue to be put to death annually, because of the British greyhound racing industry”
Tony Peters canot substantiate the figure of 20,000
He himself on other publications states the number is 15,000
What other lies and malicious stories does this man conjure up?
I dont think you are in any position to question Tony Peters. Surely if his figures held no credibility then the racing industry would take legal action against him.
I think you should look towards your own morals Mr Richard Newell!
To quote you……….
“I think you all live in cloud cuckoo land if you think there aren’t hundreds of greys put to sleep before they even reach the track in the UK. Hundreds of pups are too slow to grade, some don’t chase others fight, injuries as pups etc etc. That is a fact, if you don’t like it get out of the game.
A full and frank account of Richard Newells ‘beliefs’ can be found here
http://ga.redblackandgreen.net/Newell.htm
Why the nitpicking on numbers? Does it really matter if it’s 10, 15, 20 or 100 thousand? The fact of the matter is that there is far too little regulation or control of a racing dogs’ future after it becomes unwanted. They are just a commodity in all too many cases. Where I live we have an unregulated track in the neighbouring borough. We see a lot of dumped racing dogs, many with Irish tatoo’s which are frankly useless. We also have a Ferry Terminal where dogs are brought into the country. I am not against racing per se but do think a lot more needs to be done by an industry that makes an awful lot of money out of these dogs.