Logan Greyhounds. NIMBY Or Genuine Concern?

12485233_sThe news of the green light being given to the proposed greyhound track at Underwood has seen a flurry of movement from a large number of animal protection groups.

There is a billboard sign on the M1 at Shailer Park protesting the “killing of greyhounds for gambling”, Animal Liberation Queensland has an e-petition registered with the Qld gov, and I am sure there will be a protest or two organised in the coming weeks/months.

As there has been no official announcement from these groups regarding the plans to start a Quarter Horse racing industry in Queensland, the September 2013 announcement of $90,000 in grants to control feral pigs, or the February 2014 announcement of another $7 Million to control feral pigs, a few concerns come to mind.

Do these groups have a genuine concern for the animals, or is it simply a NIMBY issue?

As I am against the use of other animals for ANY reason, this includes pets, I am left wondering why the estimated 20,000 greyhounds bred for racing in Australia every year are worthy of all this attention, when the 14,000 goats that were killed in Queensland last week don’t rate a Facebook post.

Some points could go to Animal Liberation Queensland for working smarter and not harder for creating an e-petition that will be presented to the Queensland parliament, though with the state of politics in Queensland, will it achieve anything? With the possibility of support from the almost non-existent Opposition being slim (they were they ones who proposed the track in the first place) maybe there is a better way to use the time of activists/supporters.

First thing we need to acknowledge is that both sides of politics are committed to building a new track in SE Qld. If it isn’t built at Underwood, it will be built somewhere else.

Next it will be a matter of trying to figure out how to maximise the effectiveness of the the actions that are taken. There are too many conflicting messages out there surrounding racing. On one hand these groups are saying that it is acceptable to use horses for racing, so long as 1% of profits/turnover is redirected to rehoming ex racehorses. Yet when it comes to greyhounds, for some reason it is unacceptable to race them at all.

[GARD]Wouldn’t it make better sense to promote veganism, and the end to ALL forms of animal use/abuse? Remember, for every person that goes vegan it is usually one less person that goes to horse/greyhound races. It is also one less person that will be eating goat/pig/sheep/lamb/cow/seafood. It is also one less person that will be buying leather and products that contain/tested on animals.

Isn’t that a better win for the animals, and a more effective use of their time/resources?

What are your thoughts?