About 300 greyhounds at the old Canidrome have periodontitis, Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) Administrative Committee President Jose Tavares said Tuesday, suggesting that the dogs get treatment for their disease outside of Macau.
According to the Macau Post Daily Tavares made the remarks when responding to a member of IACM’s Consultative Committee during their regular meeting at the bureau’s head office.
The bureau took over the Canidrome in Fai Chi Kei when the government ordered two years ago it be closed for good. Macau (Yat Yuen) Canidrome that had a dog-racing concession granted by the government in the 1960s moved out of the former racetrack on July 20, leaving behind its roughly 530 greyhounds in their kennels there.
The bureau has said that it will take legal action against Yat Yuen for animal abandonment, considering that the company left its greyhounds at the now defunct Canidrome on July 20.
Tavares said that about 300 greyhounds at the old Canidrome were suffering from dental disease, and although the condition was not severe, it required treatment involving anaesthesia, which could pose risks and was more complicated than desexing surgery.
Tavares pointed out that as greyhounds are quite big, they would require a larger amount of anaesthesia, but since there aren’t many vet clinics in Macau providing canine dentistry, the anaesthetics available locally would not be enough for the 300 dogs in the Canidrome.
Tavares said he believed the greyhounds’ adoption process could be done quicker, adding that IACM officials would strive to get most of the greyhounds out of Macau as soon as possible so that they could get dental treatment after they have been adopted abroad, which would be a better solution.
Meanwhile, Tavares pointed out that his bureau has inked a deal with a company that has been responsible for cleaning the Canidrome to look after the greyhounds there as well.
According to Tavares, as Yat Yuen could not find a suitable place to house the greyhounds even after several extensions granted by his bureau, all of the dogs are remaining at the former Canidrome, initially forcing IACM staff to look after the dogs.
Tavares underlined that as the cleaning contractor at the old Canidrome has hired former Yat Yuen employees, his bureau decided that the company was the best solution to look after the greyhounds remaining there.
Previously, Yat Yuen had planned to move the greyhounds to a piece of land right next to a retirement home in Coloane.
The government nixed the plan because of concerns that housing over 500 dogs in makeshift kennels – dozens of shipping containers – close to the home would disturb its about 80 elderly residents and cause noise, hygiene and fire hazard issues.
