Canine deaths close greyhound track

Sports and Entertainment Services Co (SES) in Vung Tau has suspended greyhound racing at Lam Son Stadium following the deaths of a dozen or more greyhounds, supposedly from eating tainted dog food.

The company says in a statement released last week that it was alerted by media dogs in the region had died after eating Pedigree-brand dog food manufactured and distributed by Effem Foods. Effem Foods actually offered to compensate pet owners in March after mould found in its Thai factory was considered a possible cause of a recent rise in renal failure among dogs in Taiwan and some Southeast Asian countries, Taiwan’s The China Post reported.

Effem Foods also decided to recall Pedigree Dry dog food, Whiskas Dry cat food and some other products in Vietnam, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.

SES, which raises and trains more than 600 greyhounds in the nearby town of Ba Ria, was using Pedigree for several years and had a supply agreement with Effem Foods’ local distributor from February 2003 to March 2004.

Thanh Nien says that 10 SES dogs died early this week, and 638 greyhounds valued at US$2,000 apiece are at risk. The company’s veterinarians have found stones in the kidneys of every dead greyhound.

The newspaper goes on to quote the dog farm’s manager, Trang Quang Ngoc: “More than 100 greyhounds have died since the farm started up in late 1999, but we didn’t known why until we heard about dogs suffering renal failure after eating this food. We’ve had autopsies on dead dogs and found stones inside all of them.”

SES general director Nguyen Ngoc My told Thanh Nien that SES had engaged an Australian vet to check its dogs in April.

The expert arranged to have the samples tested in Australia, took them from the dogs in June, and later reported that 45 of the 50 blood samples taken showed evidence of kidney stones.

That was then, and the situation seems the same now. On August 3, 10 living greyhounds were checked and found to have kidney stones.

 

Category: Business