Shropshire Star

Unwanted greyhounds are dumped along Shropshire's A5

The A5 through Shropshire has been a dumping ground for unwanted greyhounds in 2017, according to a rescue charity.

Published
A stretch of the A5 near Oswestry

Hayley Bradley, who runs Hector’s Greyhound Rescue, said it has been one of the busiest years to date and isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

Based in Gobowen, the small charity is the first port of call when a dog is abandoned on the busy road.

“The A5 is such a busy corridor between North Wales and Birmingham for greyhounds to be left and tied up at the side of the road,” Hayley said.

“If it hasn’t been a successful day at the track, maybe because the dog was low grade and wasn’t fast enough, they’ll just dump them on the A5.

“I think it’s such a popular place to leave them because it’s half way between the Midlands and Holyhead where the dogs come over on the ferry from Ireland. It’s just so easy to get rid of them and get another.”

Hayley founded the charity over a decade ago and has since saved the lives of more than 1,000 dogs, with the help of a team of dedicated volunteers and foster carers.

Earlier this month she was called to collect an ex-racer who had been left just off the A5 by the Orthopaedic Hospital in Gobowen.

“It’s been absolutely manic with dumped dogs recently,” Hayley said. “The dog by the hospital had been tied up and left with a can of baked beans. He’d slept all night in a garden planter.”

Hayley said people expect there to be a surge in abandoned dogs in the new year but this year it has started early.

“I don’t think the public realise how much activity there is in the area,” she said. “It never ends and the Christmas kick-out has already started. Usually we get really busy in the first or second week of December but this year it started in November.2

“I’ve been getting phone calls taking in older dogs of eight, nine or ten which is really sad. People are getting rid of their older dogs in time to get a puppy for Christmas then we’re likely to see these puppies in February or March time when it gets stressful and the puppies are still peeing all over the house.

“Since mid-November we’ve taken in 15 dogs which is high. One was a little 12-week-old whippet-cross puppy called Lilly. They’d bought her for Christmas but she’s picked up an injury so they’ve kicked her out and she ended up in the pound.”

It all started for Hayley in 2002 when she met a couple in Border Vets, Oswestry, who ran a greyhound rescue. They were holding an emaciated black greyhound who had been abandoned because he wasn’t fit to race.

She spent hours researching the plight of racing dogs before deciding to set up Hector’s, which is named after the first dog she rescued.

The team of around 50 volunteers across Shropshire and North Wales now have to raise £1,500 a month to keep the rescue going.

She added: “We’re all going to have a break after Christmas because we’re shattered. Fundraising will start all over again in February.”