OPINION: Taking the grey area out of greyhound industry

A RELEASE was recently sent out by a group suggesting that the skins of discarded greyhounds could be used to make pairs of shoes.

A RELEASE was recently sent out by a group suggesting that the skins of discarded greyhounds could be used to make pairs of shoes.

The group said each greyhound could make two pairs and that it was well worth using the animals if they were going to be killed anyway.

The group who put out the media release calls themselves Gone are the Dogs, and yes, they sent it in a kind of sarcastic jest.

At the end they said an even better solution would be to just stop greyhound racing entirely.

Their point was made, and it makes the point also of how we perceive cruelty to animals.

If you walked up to people in the street and asked them if they'd wear greyhound skin boots, my crystal ball says there'd be two types of reactions.

The first would be people who are disgusted, and the second would be people who would pipe up and say "where can I get a pair?".

If you walked up to people in the street and asked them how they felt about abandoning dogs in the pound, their reactions would be much more of a grey area I suspect.

Maybe you'd hear a range of, "I'd never do that to my dog" or "I guess it's ok if you can't keep your pet any more", maybe even a few "I had to take my dog to the pound because he dug too many holes" or "I think it's wrong but each to their own".

Bringing something as weird as shoes made out of the bodies of dogs into the picture (although it's a totally abstract concept) shoves something shocking in our faces.

While we see "fun" greyhound races or think of leaving a dog at the pound without so much thought as to what that animals suffers afterwards, we are revoltingly ignorant.

Dogs have been shown to have the intelligence of two-year-old children.

Isn't it time we stopped discarding them and using them for entertainment?

Originally published as OPINION: Taking the grey area out of greyhound industry