Deep divisions in "Doggie" commnunity

international | animal rights | opinion/analysis Saturday March 05, 2011 13:52 by Battling Cruelty to Animals in Ireland

Greyhound industry in turmoil

Hares getting a break...Coursing and greyhound racing fans savaging each other!

What the nice coursing folk enjoy watching when they're not savaging each other

Fans of hare coursing and greyhound racing seem to taking a break from setting dogs after hares and beating unwanted greys to death with spades (or hanging them)...they're tearing each other apart on the net!

The more respectable fans post on a site called Greyhound Knowledge Forum, which is accessible to the public and in no way secretive to be fair to it, while a smaller hardcore element post on a site called Greyhound Nuts, which is restricted to fans who have a special devotion to the "sport" of hare coursing.

Bitter recriminations are flying back and forth on both sites concerning how the Irish Coursing Club has handled a series of challenges to the "sport", with many fans questioning how the club managed to find itself on the brink of financial wipe-out. The name-calling and scurrilous accusations on Greyhound Nuts have to be read to be believed. Anti-coursing activists have heavily infiltrated "Nuts" to keep tabs on the exchanges.

The track men are attacking the coursing clubs, and the coursing diehards are slating track folk for not giving them more support at a time when the ICC is facing possible meltdown. Many track men are furious at having to pay a fee to a coursing club before they can race a dog on the track, a crazy rule that has seen vast amounts of money that ought to be going into greyhound racing go instead to hare coursing, apart from the unfairness of forcing all greyhound owners to pay money to coursing clubs.

Ah well, at least if they're attacking each other, the animals might get a well-deserved break!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58qbzC-GI4

www.flickr.com/photos/icabs/sets/72157624180875760/