WALTHAMSTOW: Stadium closure may lead to dogs being put down

4:19pm Tuesday 20th May 2008

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SOME dogs may have to be put down after The Stow calls time on racing this August.

But dog lovers have pledged to do all they can to find them homes.

"I can't at this point say to you dogs aren't going to be put down."

Johanna Beumer

The 500 greyhounds which currently run at the Chingford Road stadium will need to find new jobs or new homes fast once racing at Walthamstow Stadium stops.

Currently retired dogs are found new careers as pets through two organisations, the Walthamstow Homing Scheme and The Walthamstow Owners Association, both of which have kennels in Waltham Abbey, Essex.

But together they rehouse only three or four dogs a week.

Johanna Beumer from the Walthamstow Homing Scheme has been rehoming dogs from the stadium for 43 years and owns Whittingham Dog Kennels.

She said: "To lose Walthamstow, which has always been a flagship is an applying tragedy.

"I can't at this point say to you dogs aren't going to be put down. I don't know what the owners will do or what the trainers will do but as far as the association is concerned we'll look after the dogs and keep going until we have rehomed all of them.

"What we need to make sure is that we've got enough money to support them."

The problem is that Whittingham is already at capacity with 48 dogs, and a further 25 on the waiting list, a "normal number" according to Miss Beumer.

The Walthamstow Owners Association down the road has 33 spaces at its kennels and they are also full, with 22 two dogs waiting to get in.

Waiting dogs are reliant on their trainers for food and board until space becomes available.

Space can be found elsewhere, possibly with trainers, if money - around £3.50 a day per dog - can be raised to pay for it.

A regular monthly fundraising race will achieve special significance on June 7, and the whole of the last week will be dedicated to fundraising races.

The associations are also hoping for a healthy donation from the Chandler family.

Walthamstow Stadium chairman Charles Chandler would not be pinned down on how much, if any, money the family intends to donate but pledged to help the fundraising efforts.

"We've always had a duty of care," he said.

Not all the dogs will need new homes, however. Top trainers will be snapped up by other tracks and will bring their dogs with them.

Other dogs will be needed at other tracks which take over meetings like the Bag races run for the afternoon betting shop market.

Miss Beumer added: "I doubt very much if we are talking about several hundred dogs. And if we get the money then we can look after them until they all have somewhere to go."