Greyhound owners caught drugging dogs
Greyhound owners are feeding their dogs cocaine and illegal amphetamines to win races at tracks throughout Ireland, it emerged today.
The first report of a new independent doping watchdog has uncovered the use of the banned class A drugs as well as prescription medicines in the sport.
Two owners were hit with fines and cautions earlier this year after their dogs tested positive for cocaine traces at races in Dundalk and Lifford, Co Donegal.
Although the races were at tracks in Ireland, the owners were both from the North, according to the Irish government-appointed Control Committee report.
David Wilson, of Gransha Drive in Belfast, was handed down a €1000 penalty and “severe caution” after his dog Tullyglen Hubba was found with traces of Benzoylecgonine at a race in Dundalk in April.
The prohibited substance is a major metabolite of cocaine – a by-product of the drug developed in the liver of users.
Stephen Ryan of Clover Dale Crescent in Lisburn was fined €2000 and given a “severe caution” after two of his greyhounds, She’s A Promise and He’s A Buck, tested positive for the same substance in February and March.
He was also ordered to give his winnings from a meeting in Lifford to the next placed dog in the race.
The two men were among eight greyhound owners and trainers in the North and another six in Ireland named and shamed in the report for using banned substance at races.
Brendan Cullen, of Cookstown Road in Dungannon, was fined €1000 and given a “severe caution” when his dog Big Kiowa tested positive for amphetamine in May.
George Dickson, of Blacks Road in Belfast, was handed down the same penalties and had to forfeit prize money after his dog Northside Honcho was found to have been given amphetamine in July.
Others were fined as little as €200 for giving their dogs drugs such as beta-blockers, normally used for the treatment of hypertension in humans, antihistamines and over-the-counter painkillers.
The Control Committee was set up this year by the Irish government as a body independent of Bord na gCon, the Irish Greyhound Board, to oversee doping sanctions.
It is made up of five independent people including a qualified solicitor or barrister and a veterinarian.
Adrian Neilan, chief executive officer of Bord na gCon, the Irish Greyhound Board, claimed the fines will act as an appropriate deterrent to those misusing drugs in the sport.
“The Board supports the findings of the Committee and will provide all necessary assistance to ensure the highest level of integrity in the Irish greyhound industry,” he said.
Mr Neilan added that more than 5,500 samples are taken from competing greyhounds every year in Ireland, which he said was more tests than in any other sport.
