Davies: Greyhound racing right to be proud of welfare focus
SIR PHILIP DAVIES, the former MP and current chairman of Derby sponsor Star Sports, has reacted to the publication of the GBGB's track injury and retirement data by saying "no sport has more to be proud of in terms of focus on animal welfare than greyhound racing."
Independently-audited figures for 2024 published this week, showed a lowest-ever track injury rate, a halving of the track fatality rate in the last four years plus a 94 per cent successful retirement rate.
Davies, who took up his role with Star Sports in December last year and was a highly-visible presence at Towcester on English Derby final night, said: "Everyone in greyhound racing knows the welfare of the greyhounds is always the top priority and these figures show it.
"With former RSPCA chief executive Jeremy Cooper as chairman of the GBGB and through the leadership of Professor Madeleine Campbell - a leading expert in animal welfare and ethics - no sport has more to be proud of in terms of focus on animal welfare than greyhound racing.
"A statutory welfare levy from bookmakers that the sport rightly wishes to see would enhance that even further, and I very much hope that the Welsh Government see this report and the impeccable credentials of the people at the heart of welfare in the sport and scrap their ill-considered and unjustifiable plans to ban the sport in Wales.”
Both Cooper and GBGB chief executive Mark Bird are due to step down from their roles with processes ongoing to secure their replacements.
Jonathan Kay