In a meeting held yesterday between the director of the Gaming and Inspection Bureau (DICJ) Paulo Martins Chan and representatives of the Canidrome (Yat Yuen) company, it was revealed that the government is presenting the greyhound racing facility with an ultimatum: close down or relocate to another site.
The Canidrome was informed that a decision must be made shortly, though an exact timeframe was not provided. According to a statement from the Government Information Bureau (GCS), the company would have two years in which to procure a new space.
Moreover, the DICJ director insisted that should the company opt to relocate, the new facility would be required to demonstrate an improvement in the treatment of greyhounds, in accordance with international standards.
However, Anima (Macau) president Albano Martins told the Times that the ultimatum presented to the Canidrome is merely a guise for a decision already taken by authorities to close the facility. He described the announcement as “the death kiss,” in reference to a mafia term that indicates a member of a crime family has been marked for death.
Martins argues that “there is no real decision here […] even if the Canidrome has been given two options.”
“The government doesn’t want to say that they have two years and then must close, but this is what they are effectively saying,” he reasoned, adding that the option to relocate is “impossible.”
Although only limited information was released in the GCS statement yesterday, one justification for the relocation might be to protect workers employed by the company. In the event that the facility closes, the Canidrome will be “responsible for paying […] compensation to their employees for termination of employment contracts, and will still be responsible for the relocation and removal of greyhounds from the site,” it reads. The Labor Affairs Bureau will follow up the employment issues if required.
This has caused Martins much frustration who says he doesn’t understand why so much time has been allotted to the company who will continue to use, kill or sell the greyhounds to mainland China or possibly Vietnam during this period.
In a letter dated July 11, from Anima president Albano Martins to Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong, Martins wrote that the decision to close the Canidrome would be “without doubt the best decision that the government will take, from an economic, community and animal welfare point of view.”
He also asked the secretary in the letter “to convince the Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome Company Ltd., and through it the other greyhound owners, to provide all of those animals to Anima, when the decision for its closing is announced, as we believe will happen shortly.”
Then the plan was to “try to obtain the necessary financial support to be able to deal with these animals and prepare [their] adoption, which, we believe is only possible internationally, as Macau can only absorb a small number of them.”
Angela Leong, managing director of the company, stated yesterday that she respects the decision and pledges a solution before the end of the two-year breathing period.
Albano Martins thinks that this is a ploy by the government to secure the land for itself. “For sure the government wants the land,” he said, “they are just protecting themselves with this [ultimatum].”
In the meantime, it is likely that the Canidrome will be free to continue its racing activities and that it will continue to be subsidized by the government, the Anima president believes.
DICJ could not be reached yesterday for a comment on the matter.
Closing the Canidrome is the only option if Macau wants to improve its international image. Macau has so much to offer without having this cruel industry as part of its “entertainment” package. Greyhound racing is losing its social licence in many parts of the world because the exploitation and killing of greyhounds is not longer being tolerated as a form of “entertainment”. Greyhound racing has no place in modern, civilised societies. The greyhounds should be handed over to ANIMA in order for them to find homes for them internationally.
With all due respect, it is vitally important that the Canidrome be shut down forever for the sake of the hounds who are living, breathing creatures who do NOT deserve the torture inflicted upon them at this unholiest if places.
I also believe it would make a statement to the world at large and be in the best interest of the country to take a stand against racing these animals to their deaths, and against animal cruelty in general.
It would be a win-win situation.
The eyes of the world are looking to a future with a forward thinking China .. This does not include greyhound racing at the canidrome as an acceptable entertainment form in a contemporary society
Please close this facility release these dogs to the care of Anima and assist with the financial help needed by Albano Martin to enable him and international rescue groups to help the dogs to a new life as companions
This type of racing industry is being viewed as unacceptable cruelty with your future commercial partners.in the west ..please note !
Close the candidrome and STOP THIS BARBARIC ACT!!!!
Close the Canidrome and stop killing Greyhounds, please.
There are so many other developing industries where you can work with and there are so many other jobs on this beautiful planet which you can do without doing harm to the other souls.
Greyhounds are dogs and they want to have a nice life and live, please afford it to them!
Thank you!!!
I am pleased the government of Macau has stepped up to protect the greyhounds trapped in the Canidrome. I only wish the timetable weren’t two years. How many innocent dogs will be injured or killed in the mean time?
It seems Mr. Chan has come to the same conclusion as the government in New South Wales Australia, and that is you can’t reform an industry that is based on cruelty. No amount of regulation will change the fact that the dogs are a mere means to an end, brought into this world for the sole purpose of making money and discarded when they are no longer able to do so.
I am a Board member of Grey2KUSA Worldwide, an organization that fights to save
these marvelous creatures all over the globe. (you can learn more about us here: http://www.grey2kusa.org/index… I have fostered and adopted rescued racing greyhounds since 1995. I cannot imagine abandoning any of them when they become injured, old or sick and yet this is routinely what happens to them at operating tracks. Imagine the danger they face when a track closes. I hope Mr. Chan realizes that closing the track is only the first step. Protecting the dogs who are suddenly homeless will be a bigger challenge.
Fred Barton
Board Member
Grey2K USA Worldwide
How many more dogs will die over a period of two years? Even one dog is too many !! The Canidrome has taken away any good reputation that Macau has and will continue to shame people in the area while remaining open and permitted by the government to kill dogs.
How many more dogs will die over a period of two years? Even one dog is too many !! The Canidrome has taken away any good reputation that Macau has and will continue to shame people in the area while remaining open and permitted by the government to kill dogs. Shame on Macau. Shut it down now!!!!
Close the Canidrome now and rehome the dogs .. now .. not in 2 years ..
A place of horror and death – CLOSE IT NOW!
Do the right thing Macau – shut it down now. Your international reputation would improve tremendously and you could focus on a more lucrative industry – such as tourism.
China needs to close this track if it wants to improve it’s animal welfare image!
Please close this facility now. To allow more time will result in more deaths. Thank you.
Why 2 years? In two years many more dogs will lose their lives. In two years Macau will have had its name tarnished even further.
We are raising awareness worldwide about the racing industry and what happens to the dogs in Macau, and campaigns are continuing to reach people far and wide.
Please do what is best for Macau and the dogs.
Please release these dogs now, and allow them a system where they can be safely rehomed and allow Macau to become a well respected place, while under the watchful eye of the rest of the world.
Rita James
Founder of Caged North West
United Kingdom
Rita James
Founder of Caged North West
United Kingdom
Greyhounds are not machines and dont deserve to be treated as such. They are wonder animals and make fantastic pets. There are so many other ways to entertain humans and so many cruelty free things to bet on that there is just no need fur greyhound stadiums to exists at all. Please reconsider and close this place down before it can destroy any more lives.