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International News Winter 2002 AUSTRALIA Jones, 76, told The Advertiser Oct. 9, "I just can't stop crying. Training them and racing them is my life and now it's gone. I'm too old to go through this. They aren't just animals or a job, they're my family." The racing authority began its inquiry after Jones pleaded guilty in District Court June 26 to growing four kilograms of cannabis and possessing the drug for supply. Jones admitted to the court that she had been told the secret to success in greyhound racing was to feed her dogs cannabis. She said she had been given nine seeds and planted them. The plants grew almost to the ceiling of her flat before they were discovered. Jones was given a six-month suspended sentence by the District Court and placed on a $1,000 good behavior bond for 18 months. Source: The Advertiser: Danielle Gordon Townsville, Northern Territory: Brenda Burns, owner of one of Townsville's largest kennels, turned in her license in disgust after stewards ruled against her husband Noel Burns Oct. 9. Burns, a handler for his wife's greyhounds, told the press the following day that he had taken three of their dogs to a veterinarian and had them put down. He added that most of the 40 dogs in their kennel, including 20 puppies, would likely meet the same fate. "Why hang on to them, I'm not going to feed them for nothing," he said. "I don't like doing it, you whelp them and rear them, but what do you do? You can't give them away. Nobody wants them," Burns said. "I'm a bit over 60 years old and on the dole, so if the dogs don't pay I can't afford to keep them," he said. Kate Miles, President of the Townsville Breeders Association, said good homes could be found for most of the dogs. "Maybe not all of them but a fair majority of them," she said. "I'm sure if the Burnses asked, people would be only too willing to try and help them out." Noel Burns was disqualified for 12 months and fined $500 after a steward's inquiry found him guilty of assaulting the chief steward. Burns, who reportedly threw a dog's registration papers at the steward, described the incident as "trivial." Source: Townsville Bulletin: Craig Baxter EUROPE On Sept. 1, the nearby Wishaw greyhound track closed its doors, ending 70 years of dog racing. The impending closure of both tracks was reported in the Scottish media in early August, prompting animal welfare groups to issue a warning that the track closures will render hundreds of racing dogs worthless, leaving many to face a violent death [see GNN Summer 2001]. Sources: (Edinburgh) Evening News: Angie Brown Scottish Daily Record Wallyford, Scotland: Howard Wallace, an Edinburgh businessman, has filed a planning application at the East Lothian Council headquarters for a new greyhound track to be built on a wasteland in Wallyford at a cost of £8.4 million. Wallace said he hoped to have the stadium, to be called Victory Lane, opened by April or May 2002. The stadium will feature an eight-lane, 500-meter track based on the Albion Park Greyhound Track in Brisbane, Australia, with an underground track heating system to allow winter racing. The four-story grandstand will include a restaurant with seating for 200, conference and lounge facilities, a promenade level for 300 spectators, and a ground-floor area for betting. The kennels will house 120 greyhounds. Wallace said he is confident that the new stadium will attract patrons not only from throughout the central belt of Scotland, but from England and Ireland as well. Source: Scotland on Sunday: Marti Hannan Moscow, Russia: Thirteen teams of greyhound owners and more than one hundred of their dogs converged on the town of Novonikolayevsky in southern Russia Oct. 29 to begin two weeks of amateur racing and hare hunting in an event billed as the "Greyhound Games." Judges determined the winners of various events based on speed and the condition of the hare's pelt when it is brought back. Novonikolayevsky, located in the Volgograd region, was chosen as the site of the games because of the abundance of hares in the area. Russia had a long-standing tradition of greyhound racing and coursing that lasted until the 1917 revolution. After the Bolshevik's came to power, greyhound racing died out because it was regarded as a bourgeois pastime. The sport has made a "timid" comeback since the fall of the Soviet Union, according to Marina Mansurova, a member of the Russian Association of Greyhound Racing Fans, organizer of the event. The association is hopeful that once the economy develops, greater numbers will be drawn to dog racing as a cheaper form of entertainment than horse racing. Mansurova said there are greyhound-breeding centers in Moscow, Murmansk in the far north above the Arctic Circle, and Chelyabinsk in the Urals. Sources: Agence France Presse ITAR-TASS News Agency NORTH AMERICA Cano, who currently runs a bar and betting club in Nuevo Laredo, said that Racing Services Inc. in Fargo, North Dakota, bought the track in October from a Veracruz racing family for a fraction of its original value. The track was built in 1983 at a cost of $19 million. Cano, who plans to develop hotels in the area surrounding the track, said he believes the track has a better chance during its second run with the help of modern embellishments such as simulcasting. Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Karen Brooks
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