When Dorothy Walker came to Fiji in the 1960s, she and her husband Graham devoted their time and efforts to charitable organisations and numerous clubs.
Mrs Walker was a social worker of note who had spent hours of her time and money fighting for a good cause.
She ensured that justice was always done where the needy and poor were concerned.
Her works during her lifetime here in Fiji was summarised in an article published by The Fiji Times on November 1, 1986, and one of the greatest issue she was trying to curb was the prospect of Fiji allowing Greyhounds racing to take place in the country.
A spokesman of the committee against Greyhound racing said that a large proportion of the population who knew about the impact Greyhound racing were horrified because of “the abuse and cruelty inherent in the dog race and the finance gain for Fiji was completely negative.
“It is time to put everything aside and make sure that these dogs do not come to Fiji,” Mrs Walker said.
What made Greyhound racing so terrible that it needed to be prevented from being carried out in Fiji? Well, according to new figures by the dog racing industry, over 1000 racing Greyhound die or were killed each year — meaning one in every three racing dogs were injured or killed.
A Mr Waterhouse, a tycoon from Australia in horse and dog racing had been trying to convince the Nausori Town Council to establish a Greyhound racing track at Ratu Cakobau Park. Mrs Walker was convinced that if every single person in Fiji understood what was involved in GR they would never want it to come to Fiji.
“I was shocked to find out that there were some people who wanted GR to come to Fiji.”
Mrs Walker said she came here during colonial times and saw a peaceful transition to independence. Since then, many changes and development had taken place and still the Pacific charm and image had been retained.
“Why spoil it, why not let it be the way the world should be.
“The cornerstone of GR was gambling, exploiting animals for profit by a few people who manipulated the whole industry.”
The Greyhound breed is tall, slender and famous for their speed and keen sight. From ancient times they were used in games by their masters.
The Greyhound’s speed, hunting instinct were first exploited in Greyhound racing during 1926 in Great Britain before it had spread to the United States where it became very popular.
“A clear device is used in GR, a mechanical imitation of a hare, a lure is made to move around the track and as it passes the starting point the competing eight to nine hounds are released.
The dog’s streak around the oval track at 50 miles per hour, their toes digging into the sand — at times falling over and getting injured. In preparation for races, these hounds are trained by catching live hares, cats and young pigs to improve their speed and agility.
The dogs are released into a fenced field and are released to chase these live animals. Sometimes trainers would break rabbit’s legs to give inexperienced hounds a better chance of catching them.
In a “whirl-i-gig” training method, a live animal is suspended on a pole.
The pole moves around a circular track to teach the hounds to run in a circular motion in preparation of the circular path track for racing.
As an incentive for the dogs to chase the “whirl-a-gig” the dogs are allowed to catch the live bait. If the animal is still alive no matter how injured, the same bait is used repeatedly for different sets of dogs.
“This training method means that 100,000 animals per year suffer the trauma of being chased and torn apart by the Greyhound.”
More than 80 per cent of these racing dogs are killed because they are not fast enough.
The Nausori Town Council was planning to buy 1000 Greyhounds.
Mr Waterhouse said businessmen were interested in selling these dogs to buyers in Fiji.
Even if this was allowed in Fiji, the country did not have the facilities to ensure that the dogs were safe and rightly treated.
“Do we have the quarantine facility for so many dogs? Do we have the veterinary doctor?
Our SPCA is already burdened with our local stray dog situation so how are we going to help address this issue?”
These were the questions Mrs Walker posed in opposing the plan.
