The League Against Cruel Sports and Greyt Exploitations have called for greyhound racing to be cancelled in the light of the record-breaking high temperatures.
There are 13 greyhound meetings scheduled around the country on Monday and 12 on Tuesday despite advice from animal welfare charities to keep dogs safe during hot weather.
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Nick Weston, head of campaigns at the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “The greyhound industry will be putting profit before animal welfare if they push ahead with racing during this spell of extreme hot weather.
“We’re calling for all greyhound racing to be cancelled during this heatwave in order to ensure the welfare of the greyhounds – to push ahead flies in the face of all the current advice being given to dog owners.”
Trudy Baker, Coordinator at Greyt Exploitations, added: "The Greyhound Board of Britain GBGB, the self-regulatory body for greyhound racing in Great Britain have a hot weather policy which states that greyhound racing should be cancelled once temperatures reach higher than 33C.
"This is despite the Society of Greyhound Veterinarians suggesting that ‘if the temperature is in the region of 28 to 30C serious consideration should be given to suspending racing and that racing should not take place in environmental temperatures in excess of 30C’."
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