The Mirror
Thursday, March 18, 1999

Charity founder Ann Finch has run up debts of £27,000 saving greyhounds from Spain's barbaric dog tracks.

Nurse Ann, who set up Greyhounds in Need, has got the infamous track in Palma, Majorca, where hundreds of dogs were mistreated, closed down.

Volunteers, who rescued the animals, say owners run the greyhounds into the ground.

One animal was raced with all its legs broken.

Ann 55, who has sold her jewellery and many possessions to pay for their card, said: 'This has turned my life upside down.

Greyhounds have gone to my head. They are such sensitive, appealing creatures. They so much want to please and ask for so little.'

Ann, who works at Royal Holloway College in Egham, Surrey, said tough Spanish racing conditions mean the dogs get injured all the time.

'They get so smashed up - racing on broken legs, dislocated toes and tendon injuries.

One of the dogs we rescued had four broken legs. The vet said it must have been run on three legs and then broken the fourth under the strain.

Their instinct is to chase. They will even run with a broken back - they feel the pain only at the end of the race.

In Spain they capitalise on the bravery of these animals because they believed that is what they should be doing. I just don't think they realise how cruel it is.

Top British vet David Poulter who recently reported on greyhound racing in Spain said he was horrified by 'hideous' conditions there.

Most of the dogs come from Ireland when they are just 18 months old because they have not made the grade there.

In Spain, which has 28 races in a day's session, greyhounds run two or three times a week compared to just once a week in England.

Ann wants to stop this cruel system but is desperately short of cash.

She said: 'I have £23,000 on credit cards and have now got myself a loan from the bank. But it is so expensive to export these dogs - they have to have injections, blood tests, certificate of health, coats, collars, muzzles.

The ferry from Majorca to Barcelona is £500 and we have now moved 220 animals on eight trips.

The toll is another £200 from Calais to Dover.'

But thanks to her campaign all but one of the tracks she has targeted have been shut down.

Now 250 dogs from a track in Barcelona need new homes.

Ann is also trying to rescue greyhounds used for hunting which face death by hanging unless homes are found.

Anyone interested in taking an animal as a pet or making a donation to the cause should contact Ann at 5, Greenways, Egham, Surrey, TW20 9PA

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