“Colossal” need in Sussex for new homes for retired greyhounds

The trust needs to raise around £80,000 or more a year to do the work it needs to do – and mostly it manages to do so. The real challenge is finding new homes for the hounds in its care.

Founded in 1978, the Brighton Retired Greyhound Trust is a registered, independent charity which works alongside the National RGT and other local welfare organisations to ensure as many greyhounds as possible have a happy retirement. Among the trust’s supporters is multi-million-selling crime writer Peter James. “Greyhounds are truly lovely-natured dogs and very surprisingly do not require a lot of exercise,” Peter said. “They retire from racing at between three to five years old, still really young with most of their lives still ahead of them. I’ve always had a soft spot for them. They are kind, gentle and giving.”

It’s a view Michael certainly endorses – and he would love more people to be aware of the happy times you can have if you take in a retired greyhound: “The Brighton Retired Greyhound Trust was founded by a group of people that owned racing greyhounds but were racing at Hove greyhound stadium. They were aware that there was a need to find people to adopt greyhounds at the end of their careers. It's a question of numbers. It's a commercial business and there are more dogs than there are owners. A lot of the dogs are owned by the trainers or even the stadiums who provide the product for the industry but the owner does have an obligation to ensure that the dog has a home for life. 20 years ago a number of dogs when they were retired were euthanised, I think, but the regulators have ensured that that's no longer the case and they are now committed to every dog having a good life after they have retired from racing.”

Complicating the situation is the fact – as Michael sees it – that there is too much racing happening now: “As a betting product greyhound racing has still got its place in the market. As a spectator sport it does not really have a place in the market any more. There's so much racing taking place. The first race this morning would have been at 8.12 and the last race tonight will be at 9.28. It is a sport that does not require spectators. The RSPCA want to see it stopped but I don't think that is going to happen because the government still gets a decent amount of revenue from it. I don't think it should be stopped. I enjoy greyhound racing and I have done since I was a young man but I believe we have to make sure that all the greyhounds are found a home for life. And the challenge is colossal for us even locally. Nationally it's even greater, and my efforts since becoming the chairman of the trust, which is only just over a year ago (the trust was going to close because the previous trustees could not see a future for it financially) is to find those owners. We've done a lot to turn things around but really we need greater awareness that greyhounds make really good pets and that there are a lot of them available.” Call 07704 982140; [email protected]; or https://brightonrgt.org.uk.

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