Hundreds more still homeless
Twenty-five racing greyhounds who lost their jobs and their permanent homes after the Macau Canidrome racetrack closed last year have been adopted, reports the South China Morning Post.
One adoptive pet owner, Betty Yau Pik-yu of Hong Kong, took a ferry to Macau to claim two of the dogs. “Greyhounds are good animals,” she said. “They are quiet and easy to raise.” The process was a pricy one: she had to pay more than $5,100 to complete the adoption.
The animal welfare group Anima took over the rehoming effort in August 2018, a month after the Canidrome closed. At that time, there were 532 greyhounds waiting for a new home.
“They were in a poor condition when we took over,” Anima President Albano Martins told the Post. “The accident rate was high for greyhounds racing on the track. Most of them broke their legs or necks.”
According to the statistics from Anima, 300 greyhounds have been rehomed so far, most of them in the United States and Europe. An additional 207 dogs will be sent to the U.S. and Europe by the end of March or early April. Anima set aside 40 greyhounds for Hong Kong adopters. “We are trying to find good families for the greyhounds. They are very good animals. They are kind and they don’t bark at home,” he says.
