THE NOTORIOUS YAT YUEN TRACK CLOSED ON SATURDAY AND DOGS ARE NOW A RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES
More than 600 greyhounds are going to be taken care of by the Macau authorities after the only Chinese dog-racing track closed on Saturday. The owner of the track renounced the dogs and it is now up to the authorities to save them.
Animal rights activists have been following the Macau Canidrome issue for months now, and there have been tensions between them, Chinese officials and Angela Leong, a well-known businesswoman that directed Yat Yuen, the company that operated the Canidrome Club. Dogs present at the Canidrome arrived from Australia in large numbers and, for months, their fate has been unknown.
The track was already well known to animal welfare groups for its cruel conditions and high death rates. Rescue groups often reported dogs kept in scorching temperatures, suffering from skin diseases and untreated injuries. Regardless of the multiple complaints, Yat Yuen has always rejected any accusation of cruel treatment.
However, the company has been aware of the problem for years – it was known since early 2016 that the lease was going to expire, and they never found an appropriate solution. The government condemned such attitude by releasing a statement on their website where they accuse Yat Yuen for not wanting to handle the problem and therefore “causing public anxiety and social problems”. The government did not comment on the conditions of the dogs, but they did assure that Yat Yuen will be punished in line with the Animal Protection Act and that the authorities will ensure proper care for the greyhounds.
The greyhound industry body Greyhounds Australasia banned dog exports to Macau in 2013, nonetheless, the Australian government continued to issue export permits. The Guardian Australia reported this year that the government approved the export of 590 greyhounds to Macau even after the place has been banned by the racing industry for poor animal welfare standards. This way, exporters operating in Australia continued shipping dogs to Macau because of the high profits they were getting from buying unwanted racing dogs.
Anima, a Macau-based animal welfare group, talked about how only eight dogs have been put for adoption since 2012 in the 54 years of the Canidrome’s existence, and only because of Anima’s efforts to fight the cruel business. They fought for a transparent solution for the dogs’ fate after the Canidrome closed, fearing that they could end up in underground tracks in mainland China, where greyhound racing is illegal.
Macau is well known for its luxury casinos, and the closure of the Canidrome marks the end of another shady old-time gambling businesses. Unfortunately, this has only been achieved because of a money issue, which proves once again that Yat Yuen does not care about the dogs at all.
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