In Memory of
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A Greyhound Speaks:
I call upon you to hear me You wait for the starting gun I wait for the pain You pay for a night of fun But I pay again..... with my life At the track, paraded around, you give a pound Or two And pick me to win for you I'm strapped up, pulled and pushed, you take a seat and sit With drinks and a bite to eat A night out, It's a laugh, a bit of fun You say As they pull my lead and drag me away a number, a muzzle, a 'snazzy' jacket I stand At the heart of this gambling racket The trap rattles, shakes, the noise breaks over me, around me, others, not only me, my brothers surround me all of us stuck, confined we look and find stress and fear, our eyes expose, betray what we cannot say Look at my face I do not want to race look at my eyes I do not want your 'prize' Look and hear and see I do not want to be here How can I say I want it all to go away? And above all I do not want to fall I do not want to trip and slip and tumble down on the dusty ground and hear the sound of my 'owner' moan that draws me through to a horror known to the thousands who went before me the thousand who were there before me the thousands who yelped, and cried, and died but not just died they did not just die not at all, they did not just die they were murdered, they were slain with a captive bolt gun to the brain lives in a blitz of blood blown away the price that they were made to pay when you gambled on a race and they did not win for you but they did more than lose because of you So when it is my turn To grow older and slower, and I do slip and stumble And hear my owner mumble You "know, it's time for him to go" Will you care that it is so When he takes me by the lead And does the bloody deed And leads me to a shed And pats me on the head And i'm shot dead Just because I did not win Just because you lost a pound or two On a night out with your mates When it's all over and they close the gates Can I give a little bark and call for you And will you come to me and comfort me And will you save me and rescue me? Will you hear my call And save and rescue us all? Written by Richard J Deboo http://www.richarddeboo.com Running for my life
My mum was bred to make money... My fate is now the same... I'm ran and ran and ran and then I'm ran again... You tell people we love to run. It's what we where bred to do Running for our lives to make blood money for you... The industry is corrupt... Its full of cover ups and lies... The hidden truth is more than half of us dies... You claim it for the ''love of dogs'' And the happiness is on our face.... How many of my breed for you ran their last race... What happens if we don't make the grade... If we haven't got that ''fight'' You take the Bolt gun to our head... Tell me how THAT'S right... We may have been bred to run BUT we wasn't bred to DIE... Each time you place YOUR bets on us... Come LOOK us in the eye... The fear that I'm faced with grows stronger with each run.. I'm running for my LIFE.... I hope and pray I don't get the gun... My mum lost 3 race's now she is no MORE... She was beaten and killed and her body dumped on the moor.... It wasn't just her life her unborn pups too.... YOU are a part of THIS it's WHAT your bets on us do... I'm back from my last race.. I unfortunately didn't win.. My owner looks at me in HATE as he throws the slips in the bin... I'm loaded in the car disgust is on his face.... He gets on the phone ''this useless bastard lost the race'' Now my heart is beating fast I'm scared as can be... I witnessed my mother's murder I think it's the same for me... We pull up at the roadside... He drags me out the car... I really want to run BUT I probably won't get far... He ties me to a tree... Its tight around my throat... He rumages around and pulls a knife out of his coat... I DON'T want to look at him I close my eyes in fear... I suddenly feel rain.... But then I realise it's blood from my ear... He stands up and looks at me and shoots me in the head... I lost one race.... NOW I'm lying in a pool of blood dead... I know you've read my story and I know you want to cry this is the truth ''YOU BET, WE DIE... Nichola Yates |
My number 1 Fan
So I worked and I ran and I earned you money 'man' you called yourself my number one fan So I didn't expect when I started to slow my life to turn out the way it would go It was still sunny and bright when you came in so light and I thought we were off for another race night My collar and lead my coat on too this was familiar I knew what to do But when I got out the van there was no track in site just a man, on his hand a inked bird in flight He took hold of my lead, my coat off too he lead me to a place and I watched as the bird flew .. he put something to my head cold and hard that bright sunny evening in that dirty old yard So I came to end my racing days as I lay there dying through the painful haze I heard my number one fan as he walked away, say 'shame he was a fast boy in his younger day' So when they tell you it's 'all harmless fun 'watching the racing 'Their just 'having a run .. ''The end for me came with a bolt gun .. I'm at peace now and I choose when I will run ... Written By Aileen Ward 
'Lucky' Girl I'm Lucky Girl the Greyhound the pride of all the track, I ran like the wind again and again and never once looked back. If only the punters would have known that before I ran my race, I spent 23 hours in a dirty old cage ...my owners 'secret disgrace'. I've seen many dogs break a limb I've seen the ones who run slow, the dogs who do not 'make the grade' I know where they all go. I long for a rug by the fire not in my kennel wet, If only they saw how I 'live' when they've finished placing bets. I'm 'Lucky' girl the Greyhound with a coat as black as night, I speak for all us 'runners' and tell you of our plight. Although my name was 'Lucky' Girl my 'life' was a living hell, I was used and bred for profit so my story I will tell. Only when racing stops and the runners stop being bred, will we stop seeing yesterday's winners with bullets in their heads. Please remember 'Lucky' Girl now my racing career is done, I will finally see paradise and in lush, green fields I'll run. Copyright By June Burden 2014 |