ZULU (named for racing as Tasmanian Diego AKA Apple Diego)
Sex/colour: Female Black
D.O.B: 25.04.2006
Last recorded owner: Mr. Ian Brown
Last recorded trainer: Mr. I an Brown
Races contended: 17
Stadium: Yarmouth
Last recorded race: 05.05.2008
Came to AfG: August 2008
ZULU (named by AfG) was only age two years four months when she came to
our attention.
We were contacted by a man near Kings Lynn, Norfolk asking if we were
able to take in a young female Greyhound as his Labrador did not like
her, he had acquired her two weeks earlier from a woman giving her and
another female Greyhound away.
We had a foster home available for Zulu with other rescued Greyhounds
and a small dog, so they were taken to meet Zulu and introductions went
very well, so we were able to take Zulu straight away.
She was such a sweet Greyhound and being young we hoped it would not
take her too long to settle in to a family home.
Little did we know that dear Zulu had already been passed around within
a short time, since her last race and then coming to AfG.
After checking Zulus racing history, yet another name of a Greyhound
trainer who raced at Yarmouth stadium was discovered, Ian Brown, who was
familiar to AfG and other rescue centers, was known to quickly offload
his unwanted Greyhounds to anyone who would take them, with no regard
for their future welfare.
We traced back Zulus history, discovering that a few days after her last
race at Yarmouth, Brown offloaded Zulu to a young unemployed mother of 5
children.
Not only Zulu but another young female Greyhound (racing name: Burgoyne
Bunny).
Brown was no doubt elated to be able to leave not one but two unwanted
Greyhounds there, with no concerns.
Once this woman was contacted by AfG, she told us after two weeks, she
could not cope with two, let alone one young Greyhound and apart from
her not having time to exercise them or afford their food, she was not
able to get in touch with Brown to take them back,
In desperation, she advertised them both for free and handed them over
to the first person who would take them, she did no homecheck, so did
not know where they would live or how well they would be cared for but
she was rid of them both quickly so seemed all that mattered to her.
Neither of the Greyhounds were neutered so could have easily been used
as ‘breeding machines.’
Zulu is considered the ‘lucky survivor’ as we later learned Burgoyne
Bunny was found in an empty flat by the landlord when neighbors informed
him the tenant had moved out and they believed he left a dog behind.
This poor greyhound had been left in a state of neglect for at least two
weeks on her own.
Had it not been for the concern of neighbors and the action they took,
Bunny may not have survived.
We learned she had been taken in by the dog warden and once her identity
was found (by her ear tattoos), she was luckily not returned to Brown
but to the rescue kennels attached to Yarmouth stadium.
Needless to say, when Yarmouth stadium were approached with concern of
Bunny they and the the kennels sadly decided to keep quiet about Bunnys
awful abuse.
However following AfG media articles such as ‘The Greyhound Homing
Scandal’ the truth was told about these trainers and the lack of concern
of the way so many Greyhounds were being offloaded so badly.
We believe after our exposures along with the help of independant
rescues, the industry governing body assured they were making better
checks on these trainers and their unwanted Greyhounds.
We doubt much was done, as once the ‘retirement forms’ are handed in
with a name&address of ‘new owner’ it is doubtful any further checks are
made as we are already told the industry claim they are not responsible
for Greyhounds once they are ‘retired’ and no longer race on their
licensed tracks.
We were pleased to hear Bunny was saved from her cruel treatment and
relieved that the person who had Zulu was thoughtful enough to contact
us for her to be responsibly rescued and homed.
By rights and for the sake of future Greyhounds ending up with similar
fates, these trainers should be prosecuted but sadly no action is ever
taken by the ‘self governed’ industry.
Dear Zulu settled into her foster home very quickly and was very laid
back for such a young Greyhound, she enjoyed the company of the other
dogs in the home and her new found comfort, freedom and adventures.
She was just a perfect hound, great with all other dogs, children and
adults, she was good at recall so was able to have a daily run on parks
and on the beach.
Once Zulu had time to settle into her new routine she was neutered.
She was fairly large for a female and once at the peak of her health she
was just so stunning.
Zulu accompanied AfG on many of our events,including schools and care
home visits and she just loved all the attention she received, her
foster home became her forever home, which is often the case for AfGs
rescued hounds.
Photos below show Zulu settling in when rescued and enjoying her new life.
Zulu has been featured on two of AfGs calendars, one in 2010 photoed by
Greyhound Watch and 2014, photoed by William Moore. Shown in the photos
above.
