The owners of the Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome Co. Ltd. have been told by the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) to submit a revised proposal on the fate of its about 600 greyhounds, government-owned broadcaster TDM-Radio Macau has reported.
According to a Radio Macau report on Friday, the government rejected earlier that day the company’s request to extend its deadline to vacate the racetrack premises in Fai Chi Kei district by another year.
The racetrack has been ordered by the government to cease operations on July 21, after which the government will repossess the plot of land where the races have been held since the early 1960s. The government plans to use the plot for a community redevelopment project.
Radio Macau quoted IACM President Jose Tavares as saying that the company was given one more week to present a revised proposal on the relocation of the greyhounds, after the bureau had rejected the company’s proposal submitted late Thursday last week.
Tavares told Radio Macau that the company headed by gaming executive-cum-lawmaker Angela Leong On Kei had asked for a one-year extension of its racetrack operations.
Tavares said he had told the company to submit an alternative exit plan by June 8 instead.
Local animal protection association ANIMA has offered to take care of the greyhounds after the racetrack’s closure in late July. ANIMA has proposed an adoption scheme and also suggested that the dogs could be shipped to a canine shelter in Portugal.
Leong has insisted, however, that she and her friends were perfectly able to take good care of the racing dogs. Speaking the local media last month, she hinted that the dogs could be sent to the mainland.
According to various local media reports, the number of greyhounds to be affected by next month’s racetrack closure amounts to between 600 and 650.
