News – Dogs Taken ‘For Illegal Coursing’

One of the dogs was found trying to cross the A34 dual carriageway

A greyhound trainer has said she believes three dogs stolen from her Oxfordshire kennels were taken for illegal hare coursing.

The animals were taken on Monday night. One was found on Tuesday morning with cuts on its legs and a muddy body.

Katherine Taylor, from Winaway Kennels, said: “These dogs aren’t trained to course, they make them do it until they’re exhausted, it’s beyond belief.”

Thames Valley police are investigating the incident.

They’re like our friends, our children, they mean everything to us Katherine Taylor

A second dog was found on Tuesday evening and returned to the kennels in Harwell.

It was picked up by a horse trainer as it tried to cross the A34 dual carriageway near East Ilsley.

“They’re like our friends, our children, they mean everything to us,” said Ms Taylor.

“It’s a feeling of devastation, you can’t believe it’s happened to you, you feel so useless that you can’t find them, you can’t get them.”

Better security

Since the break-in, Ms Taylor and her partner have been sleeping in the office at the kennels that has CCTV and a burglar alarm.

“We’ll sleep here until everything’s sorted, we’ll never let this happen again,” she said.

“My partner’s trying to organise better security and finding out the cost.

“We can get money for this from a fund from the greyhound racing industry.”

The kennels is home to 50 dogs that are trained for racing at the Oxford Greyhound Stadium.

During September Thames Valley Police have been running Operation Migrate to try to stop hare coursing in South Oxfordshire.