50 years in operation for Macau's canidrome for greyhound races
Amid criticism from animal activists and falling revenue, Asia's only racetrack for greyhounds is worlds away from Macau's glitzy casinos
It's 6pm on a Thursday and middle-aged men in shorts and damp T-shirts grunt as they run laps of an athletics field just south of Macau's border gate. The green turf is ringed by a sand circuit, a 400-metre racetrack for nightly greyhound races.
The Yat Yuen Canidrome hosts the only greyhound races in Asia, and this month it celebrates 50 years in operation. In a gritty, sleepy neighbourhood in the north of the city, it is worlds away from the glitz and excitement of Macau's casinos.
Dog barks and whines echo from pens in one corner of the arena. In recent years, activists and animal rights NGOs have railed against allegedly poor conditions in which the dogs are kept and the frequency with which they are put down, but with little success. The small, concrete pens reek of dog urine and the stench floats with the breeze.
At 6.35pm a loud, metallic clunk sends a "rabbit" lure made of polystyrene and plastic bags on a test run. It buzzes with a high-pitched hum as it zips around the track.
The first dogs out of the starting boxes are due at 7.30pm. Some 18 races run at 15-minute intervals up until midnight.