The Greyhound
Andre van Zyl, the Chairman of the Botswana Greyhound Association (BGA), talks to Farmers Review about marvellous Greyhound and aims and objectives (BGA).
The Greyhound
The greyhound has been termed a farmer’s friend from way back to the point that it has been developed to be and all-rounder on the farm. But the word greyhound has been loosely thrown around by many people to the extent that any skeletal undernourished dog is called a greyhound. In actual fact, the greyhound is a dog with an all balanced body structure, good lean muscled body, great height and enough fight to be used on the farm.
The greyhound falls under the sighthound class of hounds which includes the likes of the saluki, borzoi, Scottish deerhounds, Irish wolfhounds, Afghan hound, whippet and the greyhound itself. The greyhound is then further broken down into the racing greyhound, boergreyhound, English greyhound, Italian greyhound and the miniature greyhound. In Botswana we mostly have the boergreyhound and the racing greyhound which we tend to call speed hounds. From the other sighthounds we have the saluki, wolfhound and deerhounds which is mostly referred to as the Stekhaar.
The Botswana Greyhound Association
The BGA is a Social Community Based Non-Profit Organisation registered with the Registrar of Societies in 2013 to bring together greyhound breeders, owners and communities. It is also to promote ethical ownership, raise awareness of the breed requirements, all for the advancement of the breed in Botswana. Membership to the association is open to any individual who shares the values, principles and objectives of the Association and they are subjected to and bound by its Constitution and Rules.
The mandate of the BGA is to serve as focal point for all Greyhound breeders and promote legal breeding and keeping good quality and healthy dogs.
Our Vision is to have a massive membership across the country who own registerd world class Greyhound dogs by the year 2020.
The Aims and Objectives of the Botswana Greyhound Association extracted from the constitution are as follows;
1. To unite greyhound stakeholders in Botswana and bring them together to share knowledge and information about the greyhound breed;
2. To monitor and control the care and welfare of the greyhound breed amongst its members, with association with law enforcement departments and animal welfare bodies;
3. To maintain a history of the greyhound breed, gene composition and improve its purity amongst its members;
4. To promote and foster co-operation and goodwill with recognised greyhound racing authorities, dog racing associations, Communities, Government departments and Private Owned Companies;
5. To control, promote and maintain honourable practice and to eliminate malpractice which may arise in greyhound racing in Botswana;
6. To render services of whatever nature to racing or other sporting associations whether within Botswana or elsewhere and to render services to persons or bodies serving, associated or connected to such associations.
The BGA has been conducting greyhound races around the country especially at the Annual National Agricultural Show (NAS) in Gaborone for the past three years, Molepolole Show and recently in Lorwana in Borolong. It is quite evident that greyhound racing is a big attraction wherever it goes as it always pulls a considerate number of spectators from young to old. We therefore wish to see this grow even further and pull more people to the show grounds.
Anybody willing to join the association is free to contact me. Together we can grow and enjoy the greyhound dog.
Andre van Zyl
Chairman
Botswana Greyhound Association
77091152
